Big Ugly Sam
by DavidWynne
Summary: Big Ugly Sam is the latest arrival at Old Home. Let's see what happens next.
1. Prologue

This is a sequel/alternative universe story of Haibane Renmei. Before starting with the prologue, I need to make a few points:

For a start, Haibane Renmei is the creation of ABe Yoshitoshi. I'm not sure who owns the copyright, but it certainly ain't me. This story is a fan-fiction work. Anyone can read it, free of charge. Any part of what I write can be used by other fan-fiction authors. However if you want to use this story in any other way, and in particular if you want to use this story for any commercial purposes, don't ask me, ask ABe Yoshitoshi and/or the copyright holders.

I have also taken ideas from other fan fiction works, in particular from "Mado of Stone Mill" by Majic and "Good Luck Haibane" by gkscotty, and have been influenced by a lot of the other fan fiction.

All characters in this story are either derived from Haibane Renmei, or are a product of my imagination. They do not represent any real persons in any way. I would also point out that I know nothing about being a member of the police force, so if any actual real life police officers read this story, please forgive my portrayal of the main character. I know perfectly well he is nothing like a real police officer. For a start, he has wings and a halo.

I have tried to not break too many elements of the original story. In particular the things that I believe should remain unknown (what happens after a Day of Flight, what is outside the Walls, who are the Renmei and the Toga, who arranges the whole thing) I have left (almost) unknown. On the other hand, without adding something new to the mix, it is very difficult to create a new story. Hopefully my additions are not too outlandish as to spoil the original concept. In effect, I have dropped a small spanner into some of the gear wheels of Haibane Renmei, and written a story around the resulting repercussions. I just hope Kana never finds out who did the damage.

Finally, it is best to watch the original anime before reading this story. Otherwise you will be without some background information to the story that I just assume you will know. Also this story contains spoilers for the movie.

Let's move on to the story itself. Being a Haibane Renmei story, the first part is a bit depressing, so let's get it out of the way.

* * *

Step by painful step, he was coming to the bitter realisation - they weren't going to make it. And the day had started so well...

Police officer Sam packed up his suitcase, made sure the case files were there, and took a taxi to the airport. Officer Harrison greeted him.  
"Hello Sam. I shall enjoy being in your office giving the orders for the next few days!"  
"Well, just make sure there's a job left for me when I return!" said Sam. Harrison was the closest thing Sam had to a friend.  
"I've arranged your flight for you, this way." said Harrison.  
They went around the corner and then straight out across the tarmac to something that appeared to Sam to be a ridiculously small aircraft.  
"I'm going in that tiny thing?" said Sam.  
"I know you're nervous about flying in small aircraft. But this should be fine. This is a Cessna 172, one of the most popular small aircraft ever made. They don't get to be that popular if they had a habit of crashing. And don't be fooled by how young the pilot is, either. He's been flying since he was ten, and has all of the qualifications."  
"Just how old is he?"  
Harrison ignored the question.  
"And by the way, you have a last minute passenger, a little girl on her way home from hospital."  
"Just what I need, now I have to pretend to be relaxed about flying in this out-sized model aircraft." said Sam, but only to himself.

The aircraft's door was already open. As Sam clambered inside the pilot briefly turned and waved at him, before returning to his check list. All that Sam noticed was a broad brimmed hat, sunglasses and a wide sash of zinc cream across his nose. Apparently Sam was not to sit in the seat next to the pilot, since there was already a parcel secured there. Which was fine by Sam, the idea of being close to all of those dials and levers and goodness-knows-what-they-did switches made him nervous.  
As promised, there was a girl in one of the back seats. About eleven years old, she clutched a princess purse in one hand, and had a cast covering one of her legs. Already looking nervous, she visibly shrank into her seat when she saw Sam. After thirty years as an adult Sam was totally used to this sort of reaction at the first sight of him. It still affected him, and it made him feel vaguely guilty about spoiling someone's day, but he was used to it. Not only was he a big man, he was, shall we say, not the handsome type. Not exactly ugly, but if you didn't know him you would be extremely concerned if he loomed out of a dark alleyway unexpectedly.  
"Yep, I'm certainly big and ugly, ain't I." said Sam, smiling his best smile and doing his best to act as nonthreatening as possible.  
Before he could continue the pilot started the engine. Sam hurriedly strapped himself in, and gave a brief glance at the girl to make sure she was also strapped in correctly. With the noise of the engine, the girl appeared to have one more thing to worry about.  
"It's feels scary, doesn't it?" said Sam. "Guess what, I'm also nervous about flying in small airplanes. I find the best thing is to sit back in my seat, close my eyes and just concentrate on breathing in nice deep breaths"  
Which the girl promptly did. Sam wasn't sure if she was trying to control her fear of flying, or her fear of him. But whatever, it seemed to calm her. Sam followed his own advice, and when he next opened his eyes they were in the air.

After an hour or so he was getting used to it. Inside the cabin the roar of the engine was muffled to a level that was nearly, but not quite, comfortable. The wind made a continuous whistling sound as it went past the windows, and the aircraft made various clicks and clangs as the pilot made adjustments. Sam resolutely kept his eyes off the wall of instruments in front, looking outside instead. Looking down he could see the undercarriage wheel, and then a long long way down was the red sand of the desert, slowly wending past. In the distance on the horizon was yet another greenish grey smudge of a small area of trees, and above the glaring blue sky. The girl provided her own distraction by reading a book, so Sam had left her alone.

Sam took a long drink from his water bottle, then fumbled and came near to dropping it when the engine spluttered, then resumed.  
"Oh sh-" he remembered the presence of the girl, and cut off the rest of the statement.  
The pilot pointed to a red light on the dashboard.  
"I'm getting a fire alarm from the engine!" yelled the pilot above the engine noise.  
"It's probably nothing serious, but I do need to check it."  
He throttled down the engine power and there was a sudden sinking sensation as the aircraft started descending.  
The engine sputtered again.  
"Just to be on the safe side, I think I'll land and do a manual inspection." yelled the pilot again.  
Sam forced himself to be calm. He did some breathing exercises. He looked at the girl, and she looked terrified.  
Sam made an effort of willpower and relaxed. He patted the girl's hand and said:  
"No need to be scared. The pilot just needs to check things out and we will be on our way again. It'll be an adventure you can tell all of your friends."  
She didn't look all that convinced, but she relaxed a bit.  
Bzzzt - bzzzt - bzzzt  
A buzzer was suddenly sounding. The pilot gave up on reassuring words and yelled  
"When the aircraft stops moving, get out of the cabin. I shall pass you the girl and then you run towards the rear of the aircraft. I'll use the fire extinguisher to control the fire."  
"I just knew there was a good reason I hated small aircraft." thought Sam to himself. He cast the water bottle aside and braced himself for a rough landing.  
Which wasn't all that rough, although plenty of red sand and stones went flying. The engine slowed down to a modest rumble.  
As soon as the Cessna had stopped moving he undid both of their harnesses. He opened the cabin door and climbed out, then stopped to receive the girl as the pilot lifted her out. He could hear the blades of the propeller making a swooshing sound as each one came around. He took the girl and ran past the tail of the aircraft, his feet raising a puff of sand and dust with each step.  
"Right, this should be far enough" he said to the girl, "let's see what the pilot is -"  
At this point there was a sudden roar from the engine and the air wash from the propeller pelted them with sand and dust. By the time he had turned around the aircraft was already accelerating and within seconds it was in the sky. In total disbelief Sam watched it climb and slowly disappear in the glare of the sky.

The noise of the engine faded away. Sam stood there, and then turned around a few times, trying to see if there was anything at all out here. Eventually, still cradling the girl in his arms, he came to a stop, his mind a complete blank. At last some survival instinct in the back of his mind switched on, and without conscious decision, he started walking. Every direction looked the same, red sand, the horizon, and the blue sky. Having turned around a few times he no longer even knew in which direction the Cessna had taken off.  
"We must get shade. We don't have a hope without shade. We have to find something."  
The girl said nothing, just clutched Sam's shirt.  
"Don't worry" said Sam, bending forward and kissing her on the cheek, "I won't be the one to leave you."

Two hours later.

The girl no longer clutched Sam's shirt. She was unconscious. Sam wasn't much better. There was a band of fire across his shoulders and down his arms, from the effort of holding the girl. His throat felt like coarse sandpaper. His eyes were gritty and blurry, and his breathing was increasingly painful. The ferocious heat of the sun beat upon his back. At first he had spent the time racking his brain for any idea on why they had been deserted. The current case? Surely that was not high stakes enough. Some past case, but which one? He didn't have a clue. The only thing he knew for sure is that it didn't have anything to do with the girl. After all, what could an eleven year old girl do to invoke just a reaction? It could only be something that he had done, or that the pilot thought he had done. Someone's daughter would soon be dead because of something he had done to push the pilot into this action. The sun, beating upon his head and back, was in competition with Sam's own guilt, beating upon his mind. As the sun moved further across the sky he cursed the pilot and constructed elaborate revenge scenarios. It had given him some energy. Eventually he didn't do any thinking at all; it took all of his will power just to keep walking. The horizon was no closer, and there wasn't anything within sight to help them.

He was starting to stagger.

They weren't going to make it.


	2. Chapter 1, Hatching

Hikari had never quite given up on the idea of conducting regular searches for new cocoons. If she can't have regular searches, at least have an occasional search. So when one sunny Sunday morning she heard that Kana was waiting on a replacement part for the clock, she made her pitch.  
"Kana, why don't we spend our spare time searching one or two floors of one of the wings? There's heaps of junk in those rooms, and we might find some good stuff. And also we can check for any new cocoons at the same time" she said.  
"Aww, all the rooms of this place have been picked over countless times before, I'm sure. I myself have searched the rooms at one stage-", said Kana.  
"But you were only searching for something to do with the clock. Lots of things can be missed." said Hikari.  
After some more grumbling Kana at last agreed.

Some hours later:  
They were standing near the staircase on the first floor. Sunlight struggled in through a dust caked window, lighting up a thick cloud of dust motes in the air, and showing the dust on the floor. The girl's clothes and wings and halos were covered in streaks of dust.  
Kana sneezed.  
"I'm going to need a feather duster to dust off my feathers..." she said.  
"Yes, Kana", said Hikari, rolling her eyes.  
That joke had been funny the first time she had heard it, three or four years ago.  
But, nonetheless, they were both satisfied.  
Hikari valued the four un-chipped china plates and one blemish free china mug. The small mirror they had found behind a cupboard was going to be a good addition for her room; it would make checking her face so much easier. A pity they never had any makeup.  
And Kana had hit the jackpot. A small tool box, with a medium sized adjustable spanner, in perfect condition (with a small amount of rust, but that could easily be removed), two Phillips head screwdrivers and an Allen key set (metric) with only one piece missing.  
They carefully put their items down along the wall and wondered if they had time to do another floor. They were looking up the staircase when-  
A swoosh, a flash of black and a loud Caw-Caw.  
"It's a crow!" screamed Kana. Not having a broom handy, she just charged up the stairs waving her hands.  
"Get out! Get out!"  
Hikari didn't think an extra crow or two would make much difference to the state of dilapidation of this wing, or for that matter any wing of any building at Old Home, but she followed Kana upstairs, just in case she fell over a fallen beam or something.  
The crow glided down the hallway, banked and landed with a small thump on the floor next to one of the doors. It left little foot prints in the dust. It stared at Kana charging towards it with a baleful glare. When Kana was nearly within reach it flapped its wings, rose up to ceiling height and disappeared out of a conveniently placed window with one of its panes missing.

"Maybe it's one of the crows you keep chasing away from the food scraps?" said Hikari.  
"Well" said Kana as she leant against the wall, "At least it's now out of the building."  
There was a sound. It sounded like air bubbling through water.  
"Huh" said both. They looked at each other in surprise.  
The door was of thick wooden planks. Stained and splintered from age and neglect. It had a thick brass handle, tarnished to black. With all four hands pushing on it, it still did not give.  
"Put your feet further out and try again" said Kana.  
"Creeeeeaaaaakkkk" went the hinges, and the door sprang open and slammed against its stop. The girls, now un-supported, toppled into the room and they slammed against a mottled grey surface.  
"Ouch, that hurt!"  
"You're squashing my wing!"  
They sorted themselves out and just stood there in awe.  
"This must be the biggest cocoon ever." said Kana.  
"A lot bigger than Rakka's was." said Hikari.  
Indeed it was. It stretched from one side of the room to the other. It began just in from the door and presumably pushed against the window. It went from floor to ceiling. Mottled grey roots extended out and punched holes through the ceiling, floor and side walls.  
"When this thing cracks we'll be lucky the whole room doesn't collapse." said Kana.  
Hikari eyed the monstrosity. "I'm more concerned about getting drowned in the resulting flood."  
There was a thumping sound and a series of hairline cracks appeared on the surface, right in front of their eyes.  
"It might be a good idea..." said Hikari  
"To get out now!" said Kana.  
Unfortunately they both tried to back out of the door simultaneously. They got momentarily stuck - just as the cocoon cracked open completely and a wall of water hit them.

"Aargh!"  
"Help!"  
They hung on to each other and the door frame with concentrated determination. The tsunami of water rushed past them, down the passage in both directions and down the stair well. It didn't last long, and both girls were dumped, like two discarded towels, onto the ground just outside the door way. Slopping wet, of course.  
They sat up and leant against each other for support. Hikari brushed water logged hair from her face. Water dripped off their wings. And right before them, looking like something just washed up on the morning tide, was the cocoon's occupant.  
When it came to senior haibane, Hikari and Kana had seen a half a dozen or so just born ones. So they knew what to expect.  
One probably unconscious haibane, coughing up water as they cleared their lungs. Check.  
The ever-so-convenient for modesty purposes birth gown, with the back that laced up, just right to allow sprouting wings. Check.  
A slim pretty teenage girl. Err, no.  
It was a man. A middle aged man.  
"Oh my, he is big." said Hikari.  
"And he sure is ugly." said Kana.  
He was tall, maybe just under two metres. He was large, not from fat, just from having a solid body. His face looked as if his creator started to carve out something from granite that could be called rough-hewn, but had given up half way and left it unfinished. His jaw was solid and square, and looked like it could be used to drive star pickets into the ground. Two angry bushy caterpillars glared at each other across his forehead where a normal person kept their eyebrows. His hair looked like low grade wire wool, and he had thick black body hair peeking out from this collar line, and marching down his arms and legs. I'm sure you're getting the picture. Definitely not something a couple of teenage girls would want to meet in an abandoned building.  
Kana and Hikari looked at each other in bemused amazement.  
At this point the man finished coughing up water. He sat up, opened his eyes while looking downwards, and arranged his gown decorously around his knees. Then he looked up at the girls.  
They were amazed at the impression of intelligence and humanity they received.

For Sam, things had been strange. One moment he was suffering the hell of a death march, the next he was swimming in what appeared to be a large pool.  
"Perhaps this is a hospital burns unit?" he thought.  
Of course, he hadn't a clue as yet that he was breaking the rules by remembering.  
"I hope that little girl is OK."  
He tried to find the button to summon a nurse, but everything was dark and he appeared to be completely immersed.  
"How the hell am I breathing?"  
It was so relaxing not to be dying from exhaustion, dehydration and sun-burn. He hoped that the police force medical insurance covered all of this treatment. Not having anything better to do, he drifted around contentedly. Suddenly there was a muffled bang, and the light increased. He could also hear voices.  
"Hey, can you get me out of this, I'm better now." said Sam.  
Actually, he tried to say it, but because he was breathing water, no sound came.  
Looking in the direction of the light, he saw something that looked like a moss covered wall. His feeling of contentment had vanished and he became impatient to get out. So he scrapped some of the moss off, and came to a hard wall. Making a fist, he hit the wall as hard as possible, sending himself backwards and upside down from the rebound.  
"You have left me in here for too long!" he tried to say.  
He attacked the wall again and his comfortable enclave collapsed around him, dumping him on the floor outside.

He was lying on his side on the floor, snorting water out of his nostrils and coughing up more water. He finally managed to get his breathing under control, and was relieved that he was now breathing perfectly normal air. The glare of the outside light, in comparison to the subdued glow from inside the water, made him close his eyes.  
"Am I lying on the floor? This is odd if this is a hospital." he thought.  
Then he heard two voices. One was saying he was big, the other was saying he was ugly.  
"Is that what I get? The big ugly comment as my first greeting?" he thought.  
He heaved himself up, looked down as he opened his eyes, and hurriedly rearranged his hospital gown. Then he looked up at the two speakers.

"Hello, aargh, hmm."  
His voice died as he started to re-evaluate his assumption that he was in a hospital. The fact that he was on a floor which was covered in mud was a pertinent observation. Also the fact, judging by the view of the room and the outside passage, that he was in a derelict building. Also, the two assumed nurses were 16 year old girls, and they were both dripping with water.  
But what contra-indicated the hospital hypothesis the most was the cute little wings both girls were wearing, and the dimly shining halos that floated above their heads.  
He sat there looking at them. They sat there looking back.  
One of them was a cute girl in a miniskirt, with her hair tied in a single pony tail. The other was a tomboy, short black hair and wearing a mannish coat and trousers. In combination with those wings and halos, the total effect was weirdly surreal.  
"So I died after all?" he thought. He touched his own back then the top of his head.  
"So why don't I have wings and a halo?"  
"And shouldn't I be able to know I was dead?"  
This was getting too much for his brain. So it decided to shut down on any speculation and just act on a moment to moment basis.

"Hello, you don't have to call me the-big-ugly-one, my actual name is Sam. How are you?" he said at last.  
Both girl's eyes opened wide and they looked at each other. The tomboy said  
"You can remember your name?"  
"Well, of course I can remember my name, and also who I am. I didn't hit my head you know." said Sam  
Sam stood up and stretched his arms upward - only to hit his hands on the ceiling. He looked up in surprise, then hurriedly looked down and sat down before the grey spots in his vision completely covered his field of view. The grey spots gradually faded.  
"Careful, you have only just come out of your cocoon." said the cute one.  
"Yeah man, you can't expect to be running around yet." said the other.  
"Ok, point taken. Where the hell am I? And why have I grown 10 more centimetres?" said Sam.  
"And what is a cocoon?"

Hikari and Kana felt they were continually off-balance. This new haibane was not following the familiar scripts. As well as being a man, and being too tall and far uglier than they had ever seen before, he was also claiming to remember his past, and he was asking coherent questions way too soon.  
"Well, normally a new haibane wouldn't be asking so many questions so early." said Kana.  
"Perhaps you should move to the guest room and we can then fill in any details." said Hikari.  
"Also, my name is Kana, and this is Hikari." said Kana, at last remembering her manners.  
"Hello Kana and Hikari." said Sam. Moving to a guest room sounds good to me."  
"Where are the adults?" said Sam, but only to himself.  
Sam put out his hands to lever himself up, and then stopped and stared. They were bigger then he remembered, and there was black hair across the back of his hands almost down to the finger nails. He was definitely different from before. Think about it later.  
He staggered up, towering over the two girls.  
"On second thoughts, you can call me Big Ugly Sam if you like."  
They tried to steady him by holding his arms, but he gently waved them away.  
"You couldn't support me even if you tried. And I might crush you if I fell." he said.  
There was no arguing with that.

Rakka was trying to introduce the twins to the civilised pleasure of having a cup of tea. However the twins, being only hatched for half a year, and being physically about 12 years old, were not catching onto the ritual. They had already gulped down their tea and raced out to the guest room veranda. After she finished her tea she was going to finish the handkerchiefs that the twins had started making. Haibane made all of their own underclothes and hankies, and Rakka was trying to train the twins in this thrifty pursuit. Like the tea ceremony, she was only having partial success.  
"Oh well", said Rakka as she continued to sip her tea, "give them a year or two."  
"Look, here comes Kana and Hikari, from their treasure hunt." said one twin.  
"Hey, they have somebody with them! He's wearing a birthing gown! Wow, he's big!" shouted the other twin  
"What?" thought Rakka. She moved out to the veranda and looked down.

Initially Sam and declined the help of the girls and strode confidently and purposefully down the hallway and down the stairs. By the time he was out of the main door and crossing the courtyard he was beginning to get the grey spots again in his visual field and the surroundings were beginning to spin gently around. He collapsed onto his knees on the grass and would have toppled right over, except Kana, exerting all her might, managed to keep him kneeling upright. After his vision returned he looked around. What he saw was a collection of large derelict buildings. Maybe they were once a boarding school or something. Everything looked run down, with broken windows and crumbling mortar and the occasional collapsed wall. A few crows were flying around.  
"More derelict buildings. Isn't it dangerous living here?" he said.  
"Us haibane are only allowed to live in buildings that have been abandoned and are no longer of use to humans." said Hikari.  
"Why? And by humans, you mean the standard issue human without wings or halos who are born of woman?" said Sam. He looked upwards. "And also, why is the sky green?"  
"Aargh, too many questions too soon. And anyway, the sky has always been green, hasn't it?" said Kana, beginning to get exasperated by his nonconformity.  
"Sorry"  
At this point Hikari had spotted Rakka looking down.  
"We've got a new feather. He's called Big Ugly Sam. And he says he can remember his past!"

An hour later. Kana had hurriedly reinforced the guest room bed with stray bricks that littered the surrounds of Old Home. Sam had flaked out and was now sleeping on the bed. Standing or sitting on chairs around the bed were the Old Home haibane: Rakka, Hikari, Kana and the twins, Kasai and Jika. There was an abandoned factory haibane girl Suna, who spent several days of the week helping out with the children of Old Home. And there was Mado and Kabe from Stone Mill, who were finishing off the repairs to the room that had housed the twin's cocoon. So far the news of the newest haibane had been kept from the children. There was enough confusion already without having ten kids running around, getting their feathers into everything.

And they were confused indeed. Mainly by the fact that Sam claimed he could remember his past, but also everything else about him.  
"But surely a haibane by definition can't remember their past?"  
"How can we name him if he doesn't have a cocoon dream?"  
"What will the Renmei think of all of this?"  
"And he is so old! Maybe as much as fifty!"  
"A man being born at Old Home!"  
"And why so big and ugly?"  
At last Rakka said "Let's wait for him to awaken and take it from there, shall we?"  
So they waited.

Sam woke up to the sight of eight pairs of eyes watching him. And eight pairs of wings and eight halos softly glowing. This was going to take some getting used to. As well, they were all so young, the oldest seemed to be about nineteen, they youngest were barely teenagers. He felt uncomfortable at being at the mercy of a bunch of teenagers, so in an effort to compensate he sat on the edge of the bed, with a blanket over his lap. At least he was now at the same level as everybody else.  
"Hi, my name is Sam. I'm also known as Big Ugly Sam. It appears that I am even bigger and uglier than I was before, so I suppose I can't complain about the name. Perhaps we can go round and everybody introduce themselves?"  
The audience became even more bewildered. A brand new haibane taking control of the introductory scene?  
Everyone introduced themselves, and Sam recited the names twice, once in the order of introductions and once in reverse.  
"Now I don't suppose someone could tell me what is going on?"  
Everyone seemed to think that Rakka was the most suitable. So she started speaking. With prompts from Sam, she spent about an hour describing what she knew about their existence. Some topics he decided were best left to another day, for example a detailed description of Reki's trials and tribulations.  
At the end of it he sat on the bed and stared into space.  
"Is this for real?" he asked himself, "This is all too crazy. On the other hand I and that little girl really must have died in that desert".  
"So if we died, but right now I am alive, then ..."  
"Then I shall have to assume that things will be strange."  
He spoke aloud "So I have been resurrected as an imitation angel, but I have got it all wrong and I have retained my memories and I am the wrong age and gender for this place."  
"I hope I am not going to be thrown out onto the street?" he said, looking at Rakka.  
"No, no, you are welcome to stay. After all, your cocoon was in Old Home."  
"Besides which, it is always an honour to be the one to find a new cocoon, the finder gets to be the senpai of the new arrival. In your case the two finders, Hikari and Kana. I am sure they will not willingly relinquish that status." said Rakka.  
"So two teenage girls are to act as my mentors or elders?" thought Sam to himself, "how can that possibly work?"  
Considering that fact that he was, in fact, a complete rookie in an unfamiliar environment, he wisely decided not to object for the time being. He could make changes later.  
Yes, Sam had slight misogynist tendencies. But he will learn to overcome these.

"Hikari, is it possible I could examine your halo?" he asked.  
"Sure". She stepped forward.  
Hikari was feeling a touch nervous. She was standing right in front of the ugliest and biggest man she had ever seen, who was reaching out with one massive hand, with thick broad fingers and black hair growing on the back of it. She was surprised at how gently the hand held the side of her head, while the other hand gently moved her halo.  
"Does this hurt?"  
"No, it takes at lot more than that to cause distress."  
She reached up and squashed the halo against her head. When let go the halo sprang back up again.  
"That's nothing", said Kana, who promptly grabbed her own halo and pulled it so far down her head that she ended up looking straight through the hole at Sam. She then let go and the halo sprang back and vibrated back and forward with a twanging sound for a second or two, before coming to rest at its usual place.  
Sam looked at Kana. Then he put both of his hands over his eyes and whispered:  
"Overload. Overload. I need a break."  
He felt a tap on his shoulder. He removed his hands from his face and saw it was Kana, a concerned look on her own face.  
"Sorry, I didn't mean to overwhelm you. We all forget what it's like in the beginning."  
"Ok, deep breath. I'm Ok now. While we are at it, could I look at your wings?"  
"No worries" said Kana. She turned her back to Sam.  
"How much can you move them?" asked Sam.  
Kana obliged by gently flapping them, spreading them apart, folding them in, lifting them up and lowering them.  
"Compared to a real bird's, they are practically useless," Kana said, "but we do have a reasonable amount of mobility. We can also lie on our backs and sleep on them; it's a matter of arranging them in the right way."  
Sam ran his fingers along the top of Kana's wing. There were small feathers around the top where the wing bones went, while the wing surface itself was made from long feathers reaching the full width of the wing. He found a grass seed amongst the feathers, and gently teased it out.  
"Grass seed?" he said.  
Kana laughed, "We have to be cleaning our wings all the time. Generally we help each other".  
There were wing slits cut into the material of Kana's jacket, with a buttoned panel between the wings. Sam stretched the material a little to reveal the junction between the feathered wing and the skin of the back. He took a close look, then let go.  
"Ridiculous. In that area of the back there is nothing there to support the wing, let alone the muscles involved. At least in a normal human."  
"We're not normal humans. We are haibane." said Kana.

There was a pause as everyone, as it were, got their breaths back.  
At last Rakka spoke: "Normally at this point we would ask for your cocoon dream, so we can give you your new name."  
"Well, I don't want to spoil your traditions. How about I give you my last memory? It is quite dramatic. Also very painful." said Sam.

"I was" he started. Then he came to a complete stop. He couldn't say the word "flying". In fact it induced some sort of mental pain, not bad, but definitely there.  
"I - I don't understand this, I can think of the word I want to say, but I can't seem to be able to say it."  
"Is this another part of being a haibane which hasn't been mention yet?"  
"No", "I don't think so", "Do you mean simple forgetfulness?" said various people.  
He tried an experiment;  
"I saw a few crows flying around when I was outside."  
He could say the word "flying"! But not in the context of travelling?  
He was beginning to get an idea of what might be happening.  
"Rakka, in your explanation you said something about only crows can fly over the walls and leave Guri."  
"Yes, that's right."  
So, perhaps whoever or whatever arranges the cocoons decided to leave me my memories, but it then had to take precautions against me giving anybody ideas. Like ideas on constructing an aeroplane or glider, and using it to take a peek over the walls. Just by looking at the buildings he could see that this place certainly had sufficient technology to create basic aircraft.  
Of course, all of this he thought, not said. He wouldn't be allowed to say it.  
He took a deep breath. Looking around he could see that a few people were beginning to think that maybe he was a few feathers short of a full wing.  
"Sorry about that. I'm not losing my mind. It seems that the bargain is: I'm allowed to keep my memories, but I am not allowed to speak about some prohibited topics. Of course I can't say what those topics are."  
Going by the reactions of the audience, this statement did not necessarily change anybody's mind about his mental competency.  
"Oh well" he thought.

He started again. He looked down at the floor to concentrate.  
"I was travelling in a sort of vehicle across an extremely dry and barren plain, just red sand and a sparse covering of dry vegetation. I was to do a job as part of my police force duties."  
"What's a police?" someone asked.  
"Ah - community guard? Community watch?" he said.  
"Also in the vehicle was an eleven years old or so girl with a broken leg. She was on her way home, which just happened to be in the same direction as I was going."  
"So, in the middle of this desert, red sand below, with a burning hot sun in a clear blue sky above, the pilot"  
He hesitated at the word 'pilot', but he was allowed to say it.  
"Stopped and tricked us to get out, then before I could do anything - he just moved on without us. Abandoned us."  
"I was carrying this little girl. Did I say it was extremely hot? And dry. We didn't have any water. We had no hope just staying where we were. So I started walking towards the horizon, hoping that we could find something to save us."  
Sam had been reliving the experience. The feeling of trying to breath with a throat that was dry and clogged with dust. The dry sand getting everywhere. The weight of the girl which was making his arms feel they were being torn out of their sockets. His skin burning from the -  
He became aware of a commotion. He looked up to see one of the girls, whose name was, was Suna, that's right. She was jumping up and down and getting slightly hysterical.  
"You're the one. You're the one that carried me in my cocoon dream. You kissed me and said you wouldn't leave me. You're the one. The sand was red and the sky was blue and it was hot. You carried me. That's my cocoon dream."  
She was now close enough that Sam was able to gently catch her waist as she jumped one more time.  
"Steady on, you'll fall over and hurt yourself." he said  
"Also the girl I carried was about eleven and you're about seventeen."  
"I've been here six years." said Suna.  
"Oh, right." Sam did his best to bring up a memory of the girl's face. "In fact you do look like her. And when I was telling the story I didn't mention the part where I kissed you."  
Suna was holding Sam's hands. "Thank you, thank you, you were wonderful."  
Sam looked back at her.  
"So it wasn't a meaningless forgotten effort after all. I made a difference and you remember. That's wonderful. I don't have to feel quite so guilty about it." said Sam.  
They looked at each other in silence for a while. Hikari and Kana, and everybody else, began to realise that his face wasn't nearly as ugly as they had originally thought.  
The moment stretched and, slightly embarrassed, the two released hands and Suna stepped back.  
"Suna means sand, doesn't it?" asked Sam.  
"That's right. It seemed a good enough name" said Suna. "Also, why should you be the one to feel guilty? That's silly; it was the pilot who left us."  
"Well, put it that way, I suppose it does sound silly..." said Sam.

After that highlight, everybody was at a loss as to what to do. Until  
"Ouch", said Sam, "My back - is this where the painful bit starts? Sprouting wings? Ouch!"  
The haibane sorted themselves out. There was a job to be done and they knew what to do.  
Fortunately Sam didn't suffer much, except at the point where he fainted from the pain. After that he didn't suffer at all.

Sam dreamed. He was standing on the red sand, separated from the blue sky by the horizon line. This time he was by himself, no Suna or anyone else. He didn't know which way to go nor did he have any idea of what to do. The scene shimmered and twisted and eventually he became aware-  
Aware of the weird, strange sensation of having wings. Of being aware of the sudden addition to his body image, a body image that up to now had just been there, without much conscious awareness. But now it was insistently demanding his attention, practically shouting  
"We have wings! We have wings!"  
The fact that they felt raw and painful and were spasming every so often was also drawing his attention. He felt nauseous and off-colour.  
There were sounds:  
Swish - swish - splash - swish - splash  
Which appeared to be in time with the feelings of having his wings moved or disturbed.  
He opened his eyes and gradually the scene came into focus.  
It was dark outside. The lighting inside was dim. Kana, wearing a smock, was sitting by the bed, methodically brushing a wing and cleaning the brush in a bowl of water. There where blotches of what looked like dried blood all over her smock, and even a smudge on her halo. She looked tired.  
His voice was hoarse but he managed to speak  
"What are you doing?"  
"You're awake. We're cleaning your wings. It must be done otherwise they stain from the gunk that's on them." she said. She yawned.  
A sudden spasm sent feathers brushing her face. She dodged them and continued with the cleaning.  
Sam cautiously turned his face to the other side, to see Hikari cleaning his other wing. As well as a smock, she was wearing a head cover that completely covered her hair and halo. She looked even wearier than Kana.  
"Just as well there are two of us, your wings are so big." she said.  
"Can't you take a rest now and resume in the morning? Surely it's not that important?" said Sam.  
Kana patted his back.  
"Just you keep resting. We can look after ourselves." she said.  
Sam drifted off to sleep.

He woke again, feeling better. There was less pain from his wings. They were still being cleaned, however. He opened his eyes, this time to see Suna cleaning one of his wings.  
"So Hikari and Kana have finally taken a rest?" he said.  
"Hi. Yes. In fact Hikari is on the sofa behind me and Kana is sleeping on the floor." said Suna.  
Sam risked lifting his head far enough to look pass Suna.  
"So I see. Don't they have their own rooms?"  
"Sure they do", said Rakka behind him. She was cleaning his other wing.  
"But they are so excited at having found their own new haibane that they refused to leave the scene." she said.  
"The fact that you are so far out of the usual also helps."  
Sam decided to relax and wait for dawn.

Sam woke again. This time the room was brightly lit by the sun coming in from the windows. Birds were chirping in the distance. He felt much better, in fact he felt hungry. There was a smell of cooking, which he found irresistible. He sat up and swung his feet over the side of the bed. He was still wearing his birthing gown, which was definitely showing signs of wear, not to mention the fact that it had interesting red stains all over it. He arranged the sheeting to cover his legs and looked around.  
Hikari and Kana were sitting at a table. They appeared to have just finished eating a breakfast of -  
"Eggs on toast!" said Sam. "I hope you have saved me some".  
"We have plenty! I'll make you some." said Hikari. She looked like a child that had just been given a new toy.  
"Don't burn the toast!" said Kana.  
"Kana! Shut up!" said Hikari. She jumped up and dashed around the corner to the kitchen.  
"I'm beginning to find wearing a hospital gown to be, shall we say, limiting." said Sam.  
"We're on to that." said Kana.  
"Normally we would have enough spare clothes left over from previous haibane to supply a new person. Also, we make our own underwear, so we would make some as a gift. Thereafter you are expected to make your own."  
"In this case Kabe from the Stone Mill has volunteered to find some overalls that might fit you. Course the only colour they have is grey. They took your measurements while you were sleeping. Mado has volunteered to make you your first pair of undies. He said something about saving you the embarrassment of having a teenage girl making them for you." said Kana, smirking just a tiny little bit.  
"Remind me to thank Mado profusely, and Kabe, when they return." said Sam.

Later:  
Sam was feeling much better about his attire. The overalls given to him by Mado appeared to have been hastily expanded to fit his frame, using cloth of a slightly different colour, but he didn't mind. And, at last, he was now wearing underwear. Mado had also handed him the pattern, and explained how he was to use it to make his own.  
Sam stood in front of the full length mirror.  
He was now taller. He was also thicker and heavier, without much excess fat. He wondered how much weight he could lift. In what he was now calling his previous life, he had lifted weights for fitness. He made a mental note to find out what he could do about that here.  
He was uglier. He sighed  
"Perhaps I didn't deserve to be handsome?"  
He had wings. Largish wings compared to Kana's or Hikari's, but just the right size for him. He just couldn't shake off the feeling of amazement. He tried flapping them and  
"Aargh, ouch, that hurt" he said as they spasmed a few times.  
Hikari and Kana had been watching him, looking as if they were the proud owners of a new puppy dog.  
Hikari laughed and said  
"You have to be careful the first few days. When things settle down we'll show you some basic exercises to help you gain control of your wings."  
"So next I will be issued a halo, standard edition." said Sam. He was not feeling all that keen about possessing a halo, but having wings was so strange it made having a halo seem normal.  
"That's right", said Kana, "Rakka will be getting it. She often goes to the Renmei temple in the afternoons."

Lunch came and went, with Sam putting away an enormous amount of food.  
"Am I eating you out of house and home?" he asked Rakka.  
"Well, at this rate you will be, however we shall ask the Renmei to increase the amount they supply each week." said Rakka.  
"They have a standard arrangement with various businesses in town and farms around the place, so there should be no problem."  
Sam made an effort to recall last night's talk.  
"That's right, you said something about we are not allowed to have money, the Renmei run the accounts for us. So they supply all of the food?"  
"Not quite all, they supply the basics and we use our haibane booklets more for special treats and luxuries, like bakery delights and eating out.  
If you start buying too many special treats you get asked to come to the temple to have a little talk." said Rakka.  
The phrase 'Monastic Lifestyle" floated through Sam's head.

As evening fell visitors had arrived. There were now three from Stone Mill, Mado and Kabe and Tsuchi. And there were five from the factory, Suna as well as Midori and Hyouko and two girls, Kage and Ame. News of the unusual new arrival was spreading amongst the haibane, and everyone was interested. Sam, dressed and feeling half way normal, was sitting in a chair next to the bed. The stove timer in the kitchen went off with an audible ding. Shortly afterwards Rakka appeared, carrying the halo mould. She opened it and Kana used a pair of tongs to lift out the glowing halo.  
With some trepidation, Sam waited.  
"Companion Sam. That it might be a guiding light to your future as a Haibane, I present you this halo." she said.  
Kana positioned the halo above Sam's head and released it. It wobbled and it made an audible whistling sound which softly faded out.  
"Now, don't touch it for a few hours, as it is still hot" said Rakka.  
Sam cautiously nodded, the halo following his head.  
Everybody clapped.

The night became a party. Sam was amused, and relieved, to see them acting just like normal teenagers, albeit with somewhat more seriousness and a lot less flirting. And no drunkenness. Sam revised his evaluation upward. They were still children, yes, but responsible children. From Rakka's exposition he guessed it must partly be because, on a day to day basis, they had only themselves to rely upon. And presumably only children of a certain type were selected to come here as haibane. He wondered who did the selection.

Hikari took out a tray of delectables from the oven. The aroma of baking apple pie filled the room. Hyouko was talking to Sam, asking questions about what a police force did, and how did humans in Sam's world do weight lifting. Hikari came past with a tray full of mini apple and pastry parcels.  
"Sam is only allowed to have one!"  
"Yes, Hikari.", said Sam meekly as he took his allotted share.  
Midori took two, gave one to Hyouko.  
"They act like brother and sister." thought Sam.  
"So, if I remember Rakka's story correctly, you finally made your peace with Reki." he said.  
"Yes, I glad I did, eventually." said Hyouko.  
"She was such a pain, but still I am so glad I forgave her." said Midori.  
"It's nice to now be able to visit Old Home." said Hyouko.  
Their big news was their own new haibane, only hatched a day ago. He was named Mawa, and was currently resting back at the factory. With him was the remaining factory haibane, a girl named Yuki and a boy named Machi.

Elsewhere in the room, Suna was introducing Kana to Kage.  
"You haven't met, have you?" said Suna.  
"I hope we can repair the feelings between our two nests, we were separated for so long." said Kage.  
Kage was the same height as Kana, but unlike Kana's somewhat manly attire, she was wearing a long skirt and a plain top. Feminine but subdued. Kana noted that Kage was interesting and easy to talk with, but also showed signs of being aloof and reserved. She wondered what her story was.

Tsuchi and Rakka were deep in conversation:  
"I admire how you Stone Mill haibane are so organised. Here at Old Home we just muddle through each day as it comes." said Rakka.  
"You don't seem to be doing too bad." said Tsuchi. "We are, perhaps, just a teeny weeny bit too obsessed with order."  
"I hope that we can keep having gatherings like this once in a while. It makes our life less - scary - to know there are others around like us. I'm sure you lot never have that problem." said Rakka.  
Tsuchi looked at Rakka for a long moment. "You might be surprised."

"Hey, these apple pastry thingies are yummy" said Kabe to Hikari. "What else do you cook?"


	3. Chapter 2, Guri

Breakfast next morning.  
Rakka was showing Sam the kitchen.  
"Since you eat more than all of us combined, perhaps you should share some of the cooking?" she said.  
"I get the message. Do my share." said Sam.  
He made toast for Rakka, Hikari, Kana and Suna. Then he made as much toast again for himself. Meanwhile Hikari and Suna fried eggs and tomatoes.

They finished eating breakfast. The girls felt like applauding as Sam finished his portion. During the dish washing and drying Rakka explained today's activities.  
"We all have various jobs, and on a normal weekday Kana and Suna would go to their jobs in the town, I would help with the children in the morning and report to work at the temple in the afternoon, and Hikari works a morning and sometimes an afternoon shift at the bakery and helps with cooking for the kids in the evening. Suna lives at the factory, but lately she has been spending nights here, helping us keep the children under control. Since we are still introducing you to our life, the other girls have negotiated a few days holiday. They would like to introduce you to the children first, and then they will take you into town and show you their respective workplaces. You need to keep in mind the need to find some sort of job. Tomorrow afternoon I will probably be asked to take you into the temple to be introduced to the Communicator. He always likes to talk to the newcomers; I just bet he is dying to see this new one!"  
"Sounds good." said Sam.  
"I really do need to work out how the hell I fit into this community" he thought to himself, "and these girls are certainly doing their best. I just wish there was more adult company around."

The house mother clapped her hands:  
"Attention, quite please. This morning we have as our guest the new haibane of Old Home."  
Ten children were running around, laughing and working off steam. They were outside, on the grass. Actually, in keeping with the general atmosphere of Old Home, it was a mixture of grass, weeds and patches of paving. At least the play area had been cleared of broken bricks and rubble. Each child had a pair of cute little wings, and a standard halo. The halos looked oversized on the children, but they grow into them. Big Sam walked out into the sunlight, followed by the three girls. He stood, took a stance, stretched his arms up and stretched his body.  
"Good morning, everybody. It's a fine day to be outside!"  
One by one the children stopped moving and became quite. They looked up at Sam, three times higher than they were.  
Sam had by now realised that the house mother didn't have wings or halo, and she looked to be maybe forty or so.  
"Hello, I'm Sam, I didn't realise that you were a normal human? Pleased to meet you."  
Sam offered his hand, and they shook hands.  
"Yes, I work here most of the week, sometimes with help from my grandniece. The temple employs me. I'm Sayaka." she replied.  
"From your point of view it must be an interesting job on occasions."  
Laughter: "It sure can be."

Sam turned to the children.  
"Hello children. My name is Big Ugly Sam. Can anyone tell me why I might be called that?"  
He looked at the faces, looking for a child that was more adventurous than the rest.  
"Yes, the little girl in the purple dress, can you tell us all why I am called Big Ugly Sam?"  
"Cause you're big? And ugly?" the little girl said.  
"That's right! And what's your name?"  
"Hana. It means flower."  
"What a pretty name. See how high I can reach. Would you like to fly that high?"  
Hana looked very doubtful.  
Sam turned to the three teenagers, who were watching with considerable amusement.  
"Ah - Suna, you're the smallest. Would you like to stretch you arms up?"  
Suna compiled, wondering what he was up to, and she found herself lifted from the waist up and into the air, horizontally, looking down on Sam's halo.  
"I'm flying!"

The ice was broken. All of the kids wanted to fly. After Sam's arms began to tire, he collapsed to the ground, carefully. He was mindful of his wings. He lay on the ground; face up, one knee up and leaning in. He let the kids jump and climb all over him, which they did with considerable enthusiasm. The male readers of this story will instinctively know why he had one knee up. Even Hikari and Suna got into the act, jumping up and down on his stomach a few times. After they had taken their shoes off first, of course. Kana looked disdainful at what she considered to be childish exuberance.  
"Only jump on me like that after I have been warned, please." he told them.  
After a while Sam got tired of this, although the kids certainly weren't.

Sam was sitting in front of the kids. It had taken some cajoling, but they were now quite and sitting down.  
"I and the girls are going to town soon. But before I go, I would like to teach you a song."  
So he taught them "The ants go marching".

He said goodbye to the house mother.  
"That was an education in itself", she said. "I don't suppose you are any good at formal teaching?"  
"I believe I could be. Teaching simple arithmetic would be right up my street." said Sam.  
"What a coincidence, arithmetic is the one subject I hate teaching. Perhaps?" said the house mother.  
"Perhaps you and I and Rakka could have a conversation about this in a few days time?" said Sam,  
"Certainly." said the house mother.

Sam and the three girls walked out of the Old Home entrance. The girls each had a name tag on the entrance notice board. The flipped their tags over to represent being out. Suna only stayed a few nights in a week, but she still had a name tag.  
"You'll be getting one soon, from the Renmei" said Kana. "They will know your name by mysterious means." she added, in the most ominous voice she could manage.  
"Because Rakka will have told them" added Hikari, spoiling Kana's drama.  
They stepped out of the shade of the entrance hall, shoes crunching on the bits of sand and sticks scattered on the pavement. Before them stretched a path through a green field, crossing a small creek via a stone bridge, and joining a road running northwards. From the Old Home entry gate the vista kept on going, all the way to the distant town site, laid out in circles around a central plaza. The view was hazy in the distance; it showed enough to see that the town was in a large, mostly conical, valley. And in the distance was the wall, cradling the town in its protective embrace, and extending out on both sides. The air smelt crisp and clean, definitely no pollution here.  
Kana pointed to the centre of the town.  
"There's the clock tower, where I work. Before it is the bakery that Hikari works at, and to right of the town is the factory/manufacturing area, where Suna works and normally lives. Also over there is Stone Mill. To the west from here is the Western Woods, best if you don't go anywhere near that for the time being. Over there is the Renmei temple, and to the right is the farming district."  
"Incidentally, the map of Guri in our school room is a simplified version; it severely truncates the area of the farming district. In actual practice it is about twenty times larger. Otherwise how would Guri grow all of its needed food?" said Kana, pointing to the east and south.

They were walking past a hill dotted with windmills generating electricity.  
"Windy hill" said Hikari. "And here comes our nearest neighbour. He lives in a house to the east of this road."  
He was middle aged, thin and dressed conservatively. He nodded courteously to the girls.  
"Good morning, Mr Naoki" said the girls.  
"Good morning Hikari, Kana and err don't tell me it's ... Suna" said Naoki. He stopped and did a double take when he saw Sam.  
"What, err, sorry we don't seem to have met", said Naoki, trying to cover his confusion.  
"My name is Sam. And yes, I realise that I'm a brand new, big, ugly, middle aged, male haibane living at the Old Home." said Sam.  
"I guess that I will be getting this reaction a lot, so I might as well be getting used to it." said Sam.  
Naoki decided the only thing to do is laugh, so he did.  
"Please to meet you. I realise you lot don't have much interaction with us humans, but if you ever like to drop in and say hello, I live in the house over there." said Naoki.  
"No problems." said Sam.

They kept walking.  
"So we don't have much interaction with humans?" asked Sam.  
"Well, it depends" said Kana. "Naturally one has a lot to do with one's employers, and sometimes friendships develop. Generally our concerns are different enough that we normally live parallel lives. The Renmei don't forbid interaction, but they don't encourage it either."  
"I think that the big problem is that we only spend perhaps three to seven years on average here, and then we pass on." said Suna.  
"It can cause problems all around." said Hikari.  
The girls were silent for a while. Sam made a memo to himself to find out a lot more about this Day of Flight business. It sounded like a Very Serious Topic.

Suna was desperately trying to find a lighter topic of conversation -  
"Sam, you were so good with those children, and you can remember your past, you must have had a wife and children?" she said.  
"Actually, no. When I was younger I volunteered for all sorts of extra activities, both organised under sponsorship of the police force and also totally outside it. Dealing with children and teenagers in various capacities, blue light discos, lots of things." said Sam.  
He then had to spend ten minutes explaining what a blue light disco was. Fortunately that internal censor which he had acquired didn't seem to mind.  
"So you never even had a girlfriend?" said Hikari.  
Slight pause.  
"Yes, I did, when I was young. I had finished my engineering degree and was going to marry a lady named Tatiana".  
Silence.  
"Why didn't you?" said Hikari, oblivious to any hesitation on Sam's part. Kana was beginning to feel uncomfortable.  
Silence.  
"Well, this was sad, she died before I could marry her." said Sam. He kept his eyes down and his voice was muted.  
Suna was coming to the realisation that this wasn't a lighter topic after all.  
Sam was thinking.  
"Do I say more now? Or wait, or what? Well, I suppose they deserve to know a little bit about me"  
"She was killed ... murdered ... by somebody. It took me a few years to recover. During that time I decided to put electrical engineering to one side and become a police officer. After I recovered I was too busy, never found the time, to develop another relationship." said Sam.  
"Oh", "Sorry", "I didn't know" said the girls.  
Long silence, only the sounds of their shoes on the road, and the wind rustling the leaves of the trees they passed.  
"But you did, eventually, get over it?" asked Kana.  
"Well, eventually, of course." said Sam.  
Long silence again. The girls were thinking about him volunteering for lots of extra duties, and about him being too busy to have another girlfriend.

They kept walking.

* * *

They were at the clock tower. The bakery was closest, but Hikari didn't want to interrupt them in their lunch hour rush.

Oyakata (which means master) was sitting in his work cubicle. The parts from a disassembled time piece where spread neatly across a white piece of paper on his work bench. He lifted a gear wheel with some tweezers and tried to inspect it under his desk light.  
"Can't see a thing" he said, as he reached for a magnifying glass.  
That was one thing he envied the youngsters. When he was young he didn't need the two different spectacles and the three different magnifying glasses which he had to continually juggle with now-a-days.  
He repositioned the light to shine on the time piece itself, got another magnifying glass and gently inserted the gear wheel back into its place. He put down the tweezers and focused his eyes to the opposite wall, just to give them a rest.  
Of course, he also envied the young the life span they still had in front of them. Although he tried not to be too envious. Now that he was the wrong side of fifty he was becoming increasingly aware that probably every young person he knew would be attending his funeral, not the other way around.  
Except for the haibane, of course.  
He settled into his chair. So many past haibane, passing through his life in a brief blur and then disappearing, literally in a flash of light.  
So how much longer would Kana last? She had already been here three or four years.  
He remembered other haibane. For example, Kaze. How many haibane did he knew of that name? Three, four? Their names always reminded him of the first Kaze. A long time ago now. Probably no one else in Guri remembered that particular Kaze.  
Clang! went the door bell. Oyakata was forced out of the mists of his reverie and dumped back into mundane reality.

"Master, I'm here with the new haibane!" shouted Kana.  
Oyakata sighed. "I'm in here. Don't bang the door", he said.  
Kana came in through the door.  
"Hello Kana." said Oyakata.  
"And a very good day to Hikari and your friend -" said Oyakata as the two girls next appeared.  
"I'm Suna, I'm not the new haibane." said Suna.  
"Pleased to meet you."  
Then Sam appeared through the door.  
Oyakata just stared. Eventually he remembered his manners and said  
"Hello. I'm Kana's master. Sorry, I wasn't expecting someone so, ah, different".  
"That's alright. As we walked through town everybody was staring, although they were very polite about it." said Sam.  
They shook hands.  
"So Hikari and Kana are your guides? I'm sure Hikari will be good, just don't let Kana lead you astray. She is never on time. But when she puts her mind to it she can do some good work, like that clock tower of yours." said Oyakata.  
"Yes, it keeps good time now. Except then the power fails, which is at least every second night." said Kana.  
"Are you interested in a look around the main clock?" asked Oyakata.  
"Certainly, amongst other things I was an engineer in my former life." said Sam.  
"You remember your previous life!?" said Oyakata, "that is strange. Strange indeed."  
"Kana, how about you leave me in peace to do some real work, while you give your friends the grand tour." said Oyakata.  
"Thank you Master!" said Kana.

They started at the top, on the exterior balcony. Sam had to squeeze himself to get through the doorway. His wings certainly didn't help, either. He had to go through one wing at a time, with a girl on either side to guide them through. Sam found it just a tiny bit annoying, having to depend on help like that, especially from females who were only a step up from being school girls.  
"Stop being so churlish, Sam. They are only trying to help you, and they are so earnest and nice about it." he told himself.  
The view was worth it. They were all enthused. They were above the roof lines of the town's buildings and only a murmur of the town's bustlings was audible. A modest breeze ruffled their clothes and feathers, and a few crows flew past in the distance.  
Just below was the circular plaza of the town centre. Further out could be seen the mostly circular layout of the town. The whole town was in a conical shaped valley, with the farming lands to the south clearly visible on the gently raising slopes. Old Home in the distance could also be clearly seen.  
To the south east the farming lands stretched out and blurred into the haze. But visible in all other directions was the wall. Completely enclosing the town of Guri and its farming areas. The wall was close to the north side of the town and one of the town's main streets ran right up to it.  
"That's the main gate of the wall. You must never go anywhere near it. Only the Toga are allowed to enter and exit Guri, and only the Communicator is allowed to talk to them." said Kana.  
"Ok, I've got it. Forbidden to us." said Sam. "And someone has already said that touching the wall is extremely bad for us too."  
"That's right."

They squeezed Sam back through the door, with only a little giggling on the girl's part. Kana started to show Sam the workings of the main clock. Hikari rolled her eyes, and turned to Suna  
"What about us two go and sit in the plaza and wait for them?"

Sam was interested. After he had asked a few pertinent questions Kana realised she had an audience after her own heart.  
"Here's the driving mechanism, which is wound up by this ratchet. The time train takes the rotation of the great wheel and speeds up the rotation to the escape mechanism. The pendulum here drives the escapement mechanism and ..."  
An hour later. Kana had worked her way through the entire clock mechanism, plus all of its auxiliary sub-systems.  
"She is enthralled with this stuff" thought Sam, "It reminds me of my own teenage years when I would devour electronics magazines and spend hours making simple transistor circuits."

After Kana had come back down to earth, or whatever it was the Guri was placed on, they went down the stairs and to the master's office.  
"Ah, Kana. I hope you haven't bored Sam too much with your description." said Oyakata.  
"Not at all. I found it interesting and enjoyable." said Sam.  
"Kana, how about helping the others unpack the latest incoming shipment?" said Oyakata. "I want a chance to talk to the only middle-aged haibane I am ever likely to meet."  
After Kana was out of the room, Oyakata hesitated while thinking how to say what he wanted.  
"Kana is a good kid. Although she should work on being on time and showing more respect." he said.  
"You know, I've had a dozen or so apprentices over the decades. Including one previous haibane.  
And, err, it generally takes about seven years or so for an apprentice to get as good as they are able to..." he continued.  
Sam could see where this was going to. The fact the haibane seemed to have rather short lifespans, and thus by implication he had a rather short lifespan, had been exercising his mind.  
"So, I take it that the previous haibane apprentice never finished?"  
"No. Gave me special goodbye one afternoon, and failed to turn up the next morning. It was only afterwards that some other haibane told me about the apprentice's Day of Flight, and thus explained the goodbye.  
Now, if that is the way it is for haibane, I suppose I can't complain. Still, if we had some advanced warning, perhaps a chance to say a proper goodbye, and know it was forever, it would be nice..." said Oyakata.  
"Well... I am brand new here and don't know much." said Sam  
"But, I agree, this abrupt departure does seem to be a bit brutal to those left behind."  
"I don't know what I can do about it, but".  
"Well, anyway, thanks for your time." said Oyakata.

Kana and Sam walked out and towards the plaza.  
"What did the master say?" asked Kana.  
"He said you were a good kid, but lousy at being on time, and occasionally a brat." said Sam.  
"He's just a grumpy old man." said Kana.  
"No - I don't think so. I think he has your best interests at heart." said Sam  
"Humph" said Kana.  
"Why don't you be on time? He might be less grumpy towards you." said Sam.  
"Maybe"

They walked into the bakery where Hikari worked. The baker looked up and came near to dropping a tray of bread rolls.  
"Hello Hikari, and, err, ah, hello." before trailing off in confusion.  
Sam by now had his repartee down pat. He made light of the situation and introduced himself to the baker and his assistants. One of them was sweeping up after the lunch hour rush; another was wiping the blackboard where today's specials had been listed, while others were taking out of the ovens today's last bakings. They were halo rolls, smelling fresh and tasty.  
"There's some left over cakes and rolls from the lunch time bakings, plus if Hikari puts in the fillings herself you can have a few halo rolls to take back with you." said the baker.  
Hikari giggled and thanked him. She moved to a bench top and started making up the halo rolls.  
The baker, possibly still not back in balance after his first view of Sam, then said  
"Yes, I remember the Communicator coming into the shop to ask about the halo mould thing - he said he already had had a talk with Hikari about it. Fortunately he didn't seem too worried about -"  
"WHAT!" shouted Kana, turning in Hikari's direction, "You brought the halo mould here to bake a cake in?"  
Hikari cringed and began to turn red. "Well, I, err, "  
"And what did the Communicator say to you, gave you a thorough ticking off I hope!" continued Kana.  
Hikari was bright red by now. She mumbled something, and looked as if she was longing for a small hole in which to hide. She managed to squeak out  
"I agreed not to do anything like that again."  
The baker had by now realised he had well and truly put his foot into it.  
"Sorry, sorry, why don't we just forget this, I didn't realise it was such a sore point." he said.  
"You idiot!" said Kana to Hikari. "No wonder Rakka had problems with her halo."  
Hikari looked as if she was trying to shrink and disappear from sight. Her face colour was becoming an interesting red/purple combination.  
Sam was thinking: "Well, maybe she is an air-head, but she's my air-head. Plus she has got a lot of potential."  
"Mr Baker, I notice you don't sell any doughnuts - that is food items made by frying sweet batter in oil, then coated with various icings" he said.  
"Back on Earth Prime, they were my favourite sweet tooth appeasers."  
"You're trying to change the subject!" said Kana, at the same time as the baker, who really wanted to change the topic, said  
"I know what sort of food you are talking about, but it's labour intensive, what with the frying each batch and turning them over then taking them out for the next lot..." said the baker.  
Sam hurried on with his next statement, not allowing Kana any opportunity to speak.  
"Actually on Earth they are made by automated machinery. A gear and sprocket chain contraption carries the doughnuts across the oil at a measured rate, and more gears and other gizmos flip the doughnuts over half way, then the chains take the doughnuts out of the oil to let then drain, and then flip them into the collecting bin. Do you have anything like that here?"  
"Gears?" said Kana. She had found something more interesting than tormenting Hikari.  
"That's right. There would also be eccentric gears that drive the doughnut mixture dispenser. Not to mention some sort of escapement arrangement that powers the countdown. You dial in seven doughnuts, and the dispenser pops out just seven doughnuts to be fried and collected at the other end. You make the doughnuts on demand for each customer, and they can watch them cooking." said Sam.  
"Eccentric gears?" said Kana. She wanted to hear more!  
"I don't think I have ever seen anything like that before." said the baker. "But if someone made such a machine I would be willing to give it a try. Who knows, customers might like it".  
"And if Kana could make such a machine, I'm sure Hikari could experiment with the recipe for the dough" continued the baker.  
"How does this contraption work" asked Kana to Sam. With Kana watching carefully, Sam dredged up from his memory some details, and began drawing a few plans on the blackboard. Hikari watched also, her face beginning to return to its normal colour.

The baker stepped back away from the trio and looked at Suna.  
"You know, at first I was unsettled at Sam's appearance. But the more I see of him the better he becomes." he said.  
"I know" said Suna, and now she was looking as if Sam was her very own puppy dog, a dog that and just done a particularly clever trick.

Under Sam's prompting, Suna and Kana agreed to keep the halo mould business their little secret.

They stepped out of the bakery. When Kana wasn't looking, Hikari caught Sam's eye and gave him a big thank you smile. Sam smiled cheerily back.  
They ate some of the bakery goodies for lunch. Then Suna pointed the down the street. "My place of work is a logistics company, not all that far from our factory. This way."  
The way led them past a bunch of young men, several who looked as if they had been drinking. Sam, who had been a professional police officer after all, had already seen them, classified them as slightly rowdy but not dangerous, and downgraded the situation to watch them but no problems expected. As they were walking past the drunkest said  
"Golly, that is one big ugly male haibane!"  
Sam just rolled his eyes and kept walking.  
"Shh" said some of the other youths, "or you'll get into trouble!"  
"And there's that really cute bakery haibane." Actually he didn't use the word 'cute' but something more suggestive. By now all of his companions were looking alarmed.  
"Bet you they're making out with each other -" at this point one of his companions clamped a hand over his mouth, and the others picked him up like a sack of potatoes and dragged him away as fast as they could go.  
"Stupid idiot!" said Kana.  
"You mean stupid ********!" said Suna. She was an abandoned factory girl after all.  
Hikari had gone back to being red in the face.  
Sam looked puzzled.  
"Yeah, stupid whatever. But what did that last bit mean?"  
Silence. The girls exchanged glances.  
"Ahh - I don't know?" eventually said Hikari.  
"Well, it can't be all that important." said Sam.  
The girls were unusually silent and contemplative, again, as they made their way to Suna's logistics company.

Once they got close enough, Suna's work place was obvious. There were trucks, hand carts and scooters with cargo trays parked in a seemingly disordered array in front of a large shed with a long dock. People where scurrying to and fro with boxes and parcels and crates of veggies. In the midst of this was a young man with a clipboard, who appeared to be directing this chaotic but apparently highly organised enterprise. He spotted Suna and came over.  
"Hello Suna. Hey, is that your new haibane? Wow, he is something else again!" he said.  
"Hey fellas", he turned and shouted to his workers, "come over here and see the new haibane!"  
Sam had a circle of gawking inquisitive humans. By now he was beginning to get used to it.  
"You sure are ugly" said the young man, "but no offence meant, OK? My name's Hiroshi, by the way."  
Hiroshi shook hands with Sam.  
"Pleased to meet you, my name is Sam".  
"He's always like that", said Suna, "Reminds me of the factory boys."  
Speaking to Suna, Hiroshi said "So you're showing him around are you."  
He turned to Sam. "Normally Suna is the one doing the directing of the loading and unloading. I'm just standing in on her day off."  
"When she first turned up some years ago she was a meek little mouse who just swept up the dock when no one was near. Now she gets this mob moving just as well as I can. If she was human I would offer her the job of foreman, I mean forewoman, in a flash." said Hiroshi.  
He suddenly looked sad. He whipped around and shouted out  
"Hey you slackers, I don't pay you to stand around, get those parcels moving!"  
He turned back and they all pretended they didn't know what he had just been thinking about.  
"Now that you are here, perhaps you'll like to deliver this parcel next door." he said as he picked up a small box and gave it to Suna. He turned to Sam "Sometimes the delivery is easy."  
Suna took the parcel and they went back out to the street. Sam got a look at the label on the parcel -  
"Hey, that says electronics!" he said.  
"Sure does, Guri Electronics, right next door." said Suna. "The toga allow the importing of just five kilograms of electronics goods each fortnight. This time it was Guri Electronics' turn to order."  
Sam looked at the way bill stuck to the side of the box.  
"Transistors, assorted resistors, capacitors. Hey I can do that. I must have a talk to the people in this place; maybe I can arrange some sort of job!"

Half an hour later it was all arranged. The owner of Guri Electronics had been bemused when a middle aged haibane had walked in and claimed he knew basic electronics, but after some preliminary questions he was convinced enough to offer a trial workout as soon as Sam was free.

Suna waved goodbye and made her way to the factory. Sam and Hikari and Kana went back to Old Home.

When they arrived back at the entrance hallway to the Old Home, Hikari proudly pointed out the new name tag. It was

大 The kanji (Chinese character used in Japanese) for big, pronounced Dai.  
醜 The kanji for ugly, pronounced Shuu.  
寒 The kanji for cold, pronounced Samu.

大醜寒

Daishuusamu

Big Ugly Sam

(It should be pointed out that Japanese has more than one pronunciation for each of these Kanji, when making up a word like this you get to choose the pronunciation you want).

"Well, looks like the Communicator has a sense of humour." said Sam. He read the newest notice on the notice board.  
"And it looks like I am to report to the temple tomorrow afternoon when Rakka goes in for work."

He flipped his name tag over to show that he was in. At meal time he ate a big meal and then retired. He slept soundly.


	4. Chapter 3, Belonging

Sayaka, otherwise known as the house-mother, set up Jika and Kasai to look after the young feathers for a while. She made her way to the guest room veranda and sat down to enjoy the sun. Presently Rakka and Sam appeared.  
"I have no problems with Sam tutoring the kids in arithmetic" Rakka said. "If you could work out some suitable times and then please inform me."  
She went off to do her own morning duties.

Sayaka and Sam made arrangements:  
"So its five days of the week, an hour each time, in the mornings, plus I am free to play with the kids any time in the afternoon before tea. And I try to give advance notice if anything comes up to disrupt that." said Sam.

Sam took the opportunity to see what Sayaka thought about working with haibane.  
"And if I may ask, how long have you been looking after haibane children?"  
"Oh, about two decades, with a few gaps when there weren't any." said Sayaka.  
"How do you cope with the fact that us haibane stay for such a short period of time?"  
"Well, it can be difficult. Before I started working here I was a school teacher for human children, and I was already used to looking after children for a while and then saying good bye. The haibane children arrive at a young age, and mostly when they become teenagers they move to the abandoned factory or Stone Mill, and from there they have their own Day of Flight. So my interactions with them are almost like as if they were human children. I teach them for a few years, they move on and out of my life." said Sayaka.  
She continued "It's those more mature arrivals that live here at Old Home that used to cause me some heartbreak. When I first started I became quite fond of some of them, and still remember them to this day. Nowadays I tend to maintain a little bit of reserve. It's easier on my emotions that way. But I still do my best for them, both the young'uns and the older ones. Some provide more drama, for example Reki. I was glad for her when she finally made her Day of Flight. I believe it was a very close call. And some haibane just provide so much more entertainment than others." she said.  
"Entertainment heh? that must be me." said Sam.  
"Yes, I have high hopes that you will provide a lot for me to remember." said Sayaka, with a laugh.  
"I shall do my best." said Sam.

Seeing no reason not to, Sam went to the children and started his first lesson.  
"It's Sam! Can we play outside? Please!" and much more to that refrain.  
"Sorry. I will play with you in the afternoons, if I am around. In the mornings I am to teach you basic arithmetic. Then if you have all learnt something we can play in the afternoons."  
"Oh" plus variations.  
"Come on, children, you do need to know your numbers."  
He drew twelve circles on the blackboard.  
"For example, let's say I have twelve pancakes."  
That drew a moderate amount of attention.  
"And then a Big Ugly person eats five of them."  
"Oh no!"  
Sam underlined five circles.  
"Can anyone tell me how many pancakes are left for you lot to eat?"  
"Yes, Hana?"  
Hana concentrated: "seven?"  
"Yes!"  
"Can anyone else tell me why there are seven?"

* * *

It was afternoon. Rakka and Sam were walking to the temple.  
"The Communicator appears forbidding, what with his costume and mask that totally covers his face, but he is actually nice. After when he guided me out of the forest he loaned me his staff so I could keep walking. Soon after that Reki found me." said Rakka.  
Sam watched her face as she talked. "She is fond of him. Personally I would not have left her alone, even with a staff. But maybe he was counting on someone from the Old Home finding her soon? Maybe he was watching to make sure someone found her? Maybe it was important enough for Reki's sake that he added a bit of extra risk to Rakka's situation? Maybe I am making excuses out of thin air?"  
Rakka explained the ceremony involved, including the little bells being attached to their wings and wrists.  
Frankly, Sam found this ceremony stuff irksome. However, watching Rakka walk along, happily telling him about the temple and her job and the Communicator, he could not bring himself to ruin her enjoyment. He resolved to be a good little haibane and accept all of these ridiculous rituals. After all, they appeared to be mainly orientated towards young teenage amnesiacs, and given the apparent purpose of haibane lives, maybe it was for the best.  
"Can you shake your left and right wings independently" asked Rakka. "Hikari totally forgot to tell me about that when I first came here."  
Sam said to himself "I can imagine that, she was too concerned about the halo cake mould incident."  
Out loud he said "I have been doing some exercises."  
He demonstrated by shaking his wings - left, right, left, left, right, right, both together.  
"Oh! Very good." Rakka clapped her hands.  
"Everybody thinks of me as their prized puppy dog." thought Sam. But he wasn't all that displeased.

The Communicator had gravely welcomed both, then politely explained to Rakka that he wanted to talk to Sam alone for while. Rakka went off to her work. They were inside the temple, in the gardens. Sunlight streamed down from the open roof and lit up the trees and flowers and herbs growing in neatly layed out garden beds. A few birds chirped in the distance. The communicator was sitting behind a table under a small pagoda, wearing the full Communicator costume. All that Sam could see of him was his hands, from which he judged that the communicator must be sixty or more. Visible amongst the vegetation where some other members of the Renmei, also fully robed, doing various gardening type activities.  
The Communicator waved his hands and said.  
"You may talk. I'm sure you have some questions."  
"Yes - but the first question that comes to mind is how much do you intend answering?" said Sam.  
The Communicator leant back in his chair.  
"The Renmei's main purpose is to ensure the Day of Flight for as many blessed haibane as possible. After that we also try to ensure the smooth running of the human society in Guri. Over a period of time we have compiled various guidelines and rules which appear to be the best for our situation."  
"So the monastic type lifestyle you impose upon the haibane, plus all of the ceremony, is all part of the process of not distracting haibane from whatever it is they need to do here. And I can see that the recommended restrictions about interactions between haibane and humans are probably for the best." said Sam.  
"That is so. Of course, people will sometimes disregard out recommendations about interactions, but that may well be a necessary part of the haibane's trial." said the Communicator.  
"Trail?"  
"Every haibane here, including you, has some trail or task that needs to be achieved or mastered before they can move on."  
"But I don't have any unresolved issues from my life, and I can remember my life." said Sam, beginning to feel a bit annoyed.  
Silence.  
"Well, we shall see" said Sam.

"What about the fact that I can remember my past?" asked Sam.  
The Communicator shrugged his shoulders.  
"I don't know. I am going to act as usual, unless otherwise indicated." he said.  
"Actually I can remember everything, but some things I appear to be blocked from saying. Bits of technology, for example, that might undermine the protection of the Walls."  
"Then it is all to the good that you are blocked from saying such things." said the Communicator.  
"And what about security? Anybody from anywhere could walk in to Old Home and do ... whatever. The girls have absolutely no defence. And when you heard about a strange male haibane, why didn't you check me out immediately?" said Sam.  
"Tell me, would you harm the haibane of Old Home?" said the Communicator.  
"Of a course I wouldn't!" Sam reacted so strongly his wings jerked and one of the bells flew off. "I would defend them to my death!"  
Sam stopped. Did he really just say that?  
"I think I get the message, only nice guys need apply. I hope a not-nice guy never turns up, since how could Hikari, Kana and Rakka ever defend themselves against someone like that." he said.  
The Communicator got out of his seat and walked around Sam to pick up the bell.  
"Be still, please" he said has he clipped the bell back on Sam's wing.  
The Communicator released Sam's wing and walked back around to face Sam.

"Do you have anything more you wish to speak about?"  
Sam considered his choices. The communicator probably wouldn't answer any mundane questions like, for example, how many people were in the Renmei, and where exactly they came from, and he possibly didn't know the answers to questions like what was on the outside of the walls, where do the Toga come from, and where do haibane go to on their Day of Flight. So what could he ask about...?  
"Yes, I do. A little project I have recently thought off. Would you mind if I gathered from the others stories about haibane who have left us on their Day of Flight? Perhaps they might end up published as a booklet or two." he said.  
"That is probably acceptable. The Renmei are not supposed to interfere with the haibane's day to day activities, so if that is what you and the other haibane want, we won't object. However I do request that I read any stories before publication." said the Communicator, has he moved to sit back into his chair. "Why do you feel the need to do this?"  
"Well, listening to the bits of the stories of Reki and Rakka which I have managed to hear so far, it occurs to me that an awful lot of misery could have been avoided if they only knew more about how Guri and haibane work. It wouldn't help with their grief, but it could have made their subsequent actions much less destructive." said Sam.  
"In fact, the more I think about it, the more I feel it must have happened many times in the past. Some vulnerable haibane's prime emotional support suddenly disappears due to a Day of Flight, and this poor kid feels totally abandoned. Without any compensating knowledge they sink into a spiral of despair and end up Tsumitsuki (Sin-Bound) and miss their Day of Flight. Whereas they could have coped if they knew what was going on. Also, come to think of it, if the person doing the Day of Flight could have taken a little time to explain why they are going, things could also be much better. Not good, but better."  
And as Sam said this, the Communicator froze as he was lowering himself into his chair. Then he kept moving as if nothing had happened.  
"So", said Sam to himself, "Either I have uncovered a great truth here, or I have made an egregiously tactless statement, or the Communicator has just had a bad twinge from his arthritis. Better pretend nothing happened".  
"Thank you for you visit, Sam" said the Communicator.  
"Thank you for your patience, sir." said Sam.  
He left.

Apart from a teaching session with the children and the visit to the temple, Sam didn't do anything else on that day. He just strolled around the grounds of Old Home and up to the wind turbines. He felt his head was stuffed to overflowing with new information, and he needed a break to process it all.

The next day, after breakfast and an hour's tutoring, Sam packed his lunch and set out to Guri's Electronics. Suna had spent the night back at the factory, and Hikari and Kana had left straight after breakfast, so Sam was alone on his walk. He didn't have any firm appointment time, so, on a whim, as he came up to the turn off that Naoki had indicated was the way to his house, he decided to walk up it and see what might happen.

Naoki was tackling the weeds in his garden. It had once been a nicely arranged garden. There were two rows of trees, placed where they would not block the winter sun, plus artfully placed shrubs and perennials in garden beds. A lot of effort had gone into the design and layout. Alas it had fallen on hard times. The shrubs were overgrown, the roses need trimming and weeds were rampart. Naoki did his best, but he wasn't the gardening type. He straightened out to give his back a rest, and saw someone walking towards the front gate.  
"Ah, it's that remarkably big and amazingly ugly haibane from the Old Home. A truly startling contrast to the other occupants. But he actually seems to be a nice fellow."  
"Hello, Sam" said Naoki.  
"Hello, Naoki, I hope I have got the name correct. If you're not busy I just thought I'll drop in as you suggested." said Sam.  
"That's fine" said Naoki.  
They stood in the garden. "This entire garden was laid out by my wife when we first got married. Originally the place was my parents, but they weren't gardeners. As you can see it's fallen into sad disrepair" said Naoki.  
"Your wife ...?" said Sam.  
"She died some time ago, sadly".  
"Did you have children?"  
"Yes, one daughter. Who died in an accident when she was sixteen."  
"I'm not doing too well with my choice of conversational topics, am I?" said Sam.  
"It's all right. This is all some time ago. What about you? I gather from gossip in the town that you remember your past?" said Naoki.  
"That's right. I half expected the Renmei to revoke by haibane-hood and expel me from the kingdom." said Sam.  
"And I never married... I was engaged but ... she was killed by someone."  
"Well, so we both have sad stories. What sort of work did you do?" said Naoki, trying to lighten the conversation.  
"I originally started as an engineer, and switched to police work, police as in community watch."  
"Interesting, I started as an engineer, and switched to accounting." said Naoki.

Sam looked at the house and admired its lines and architecture.  
"Yes", said Naoki, "it's built in the same style as the Old Home and it must have been built at roughly the same time. It was way too big for us when we first moved in, and nowadays I only live in a small part at the front. There are rooms I haven't been in for years."  
"Would you like to come in for a cup of tea?" said Naoki.  
"Can I do that another day? Right now I am on my way to a trial work session." replied Sam.  
They agreed to make it another day, shook hands, and Sam went on his way.

Sam had a gentle walk into town. The fields were green, the sun was warm but not hot, and the sky was -  
"I still don't get why the sky is that pale greenish colour. Maybe it is just to remind me that I'm a long way from home?"  
It was a clear day, and when he had started out from the Old Home, the town could be seen in its entirety, spread out along the bottom of the shallow valley. As he walked in the perspective gradually flattened out, by the time he was up to the factory district he could only see the immediately surrounding buildings. But looking behind he could see, peeking between the nearby buildings, the farming land as it gradually rose towards a hazy horizon.  
He approached the logistics company where Suna worked. In comparison to the other day, he was amused to see that the place was almost completely deserted. Suna was standing on the dock, with the clipboard, and a single solitary carton sitting on the ground. She waved to Sam, and then waited while a man pushing a small hand cart arrived, took the carton, signed the clipboard and went on his way.  
"Not every day is busy", she explained. They were sitting on some seats under a tree in front of the factory units. "After all, Guri has only ten thousand or so people. Only on days where half the farming district decides to deliver their produce to the local markets, and the Toga also decide to make a delivery, are we really really busy."  
"Right. Well I'm off for my work trial. Wish me luck. How about meeting me here again at lunchtime?" said Sam.  
"Good luck. Will do." said Suna.

The owner of Guri's Electronics was a man in his late twenties called Hibana.  
"I sent a letter to the Renmei asking about employing you, and the Communicator was kind enough to pay us a visit yesterday late afternoon. So we are now plugged into the Haibane accounting system. You're not to worry about anything like that. Also the old man was most insistent that you be permitted only to work repairing already existing electronic devices. So we definitely can't allow you to have technical input into the design of new electronics systems, sorry about that. And he was cautious about allowing you to build new devices. So it's only repair of existing items, which is still useful to us." said Hibana.  
"I figured that it might be like that" said Sam. "In truth I never did much design stuff, but I should do fine with simple repairs." said Sam.  
Hibana gave Sam a rapid tour of the facility and their products. Sam noted, but only to himself, that it was all simple discrete electronics. No integrated circuits, and definitely no microprocessor type chips.  
"We import via the Toga the transistors and other components, and make our own circuit boards. We have also managed to convince the Toga to allow us to import some basic electronics text books. Its only recently that transistors became available to us, they are much better than the previous glass thermionic valves we were limited to." said Hibana.  
"We make basic intercoms, small radios and maintain the Guri Radio Station transmitter. Here are some radios that have been returned for various reasons. If you would like to see if you can work out what's wrong with them and maybe repair them?" said Hibana.  
"Sure, I'll have a go." said Sam.

A few hours later Sam clicked off the soldering iron.  
"Let's see, that's three radios fixed, one radio that appears to have been soaked in cat's urine and is completely corroded, and two radios that had enough working parts between them to construct a single usable radio. Not bad."  
He had enjoyed himself. Immersing himself into the electronics, he could imagine that he was back on old Earth, in his hobby room, building some electronics kit project. Reluctantly he came back to the reality of having vestigial wings and a halo whose light he could see reflected in the glass front of each radio.  
"Lunchtime. Let's see if Suna is outside."  
She was. She put her lunch on her lap. Sam put out his lunch, which was about five times as much food as Suna's. Suna laughed at the difference.

As they were eating, Hibana and his design engineer came out with their lunches.  
"Hi", said Hibana. "Yes, I know Suna, she delivers our imported goods. Good work with the radio repairs, perhaps you can come in every morning?"  
Sam and Hibana made arrangements. Sam wanted flexibility in his schedule, which suited Hibana since he never knew how many repairs he would have at any one time.  
"I know you can't make any technical contributions, but there is no reason why I can tell you of our plans" said Hibana.  
"We're trying to design a handheld radio receiver transmitter that ordinary people can use to talk to each other. We figure that if, say, Granny wants to talk to her favourite grandson, they can agree at a certain time to both switch to the same band (say number 23) and then they can discuss what the grandson wants for his birthday, or whatever. But the details still need a lot of work." continued Hibana.  
"I'm allowed to make non-technical suggestions?" said Sam.  
"I suppose so."  
"Well, how are you going to handle privacy? I mean, just about anyone with one of these transceivers can listen to any band at any time, right?" said Sam.  
"Transceiver, that's a good name for these things. Err, why is this privacy important? The users only talking about stuff over a radio." said Hibana.  
"Well," said Sam, "Consider if A contacts B to arrange a discreet private meeting, if you see what I mean. And it so happens that A and B are both married, but not to each other. Privacy can be important! I presume such things do happen here in Guri?"  
"Of course they do. Very carefully, since we are a small society. Hmmm" said Hibana.  
He spoke to his engineer. "I see what he means; privacy is actually required in lots of interactions. Generally not as much as in Sam's example, but even Granny wouldn't want just anyone listening in to her conversation with her grandson. I just hadn't thought though the consequences."  
The engineer said "What we need is some use case that does not require privacy. At least to start with."  
"Well, I suppose just arranging logistics? Or ... Of course. It is obvious, emergencies! The fire brigade and the community watch would be keen to get their hands on a portable communication system." said Hibana.  
Hibana and the engineer disappeared into the building, still discussing the details.

Sam and Suna finished their lunches and parted ways. As Suna made her way back to her clipboard, she thought about Sam's privacy example. She decided she really must have a talk with Rakka, Hikari and Kana, about Sam, the next time they met.

Suna, Rakka, Hikari and Kana met in Suna's temporary bedroom. Rakka and Hikari sat on the bed so that Rakka could groom Hikari's wings. Suna straddled a chair while Kana, sitting on a chair behind her, groomed Suna's wings.  
"Couple of grass seeds."  
"Ouch, don't pull so hard!"  
"Sorry, one of these grass seeds has barbs. Be still!"  
"Say, has anyone noticed that Sam's wings are getting pretty grotty, and he's only been here a week or so?" said Rakka.  
"Must be all that rolling around in the grass he does when he's playing with the children." said Hikari.  
"Marvellous, isn't he?" said Suna.  
"Yea, Hikari and I will have to ambush him at breakfast one day soon and do his wings." said Kana.  
"He's a man. He'll say it's not important and go away." giggled Suna.  
"Oh no he won't, I shall prepare a fifty egg omelette and put it in front of him. That will keep him immobile for at least five minutes!" said Rakka.  
Much laughter.  
The groomers and the groomees swapped over.

"Talking about Sam, did you tell Rakka about that incident with the drunken idiot the other day?" asked Suna of Hikari and Kana.  
"No," said Kana, and then described the scene to Rakka. "And Hikari's face went an interesting red colour!" she finished with.  
"I shall hit you." said Hikari.  
"So Sam was completely oblivious as to what that drunk might have been referring to?" said Rakka.  
"Seems to have been so.", said Kana.  
"But we know, and we're not exactly into that sort of stuff." said Hikari, "So surely a police man from a place much bigger than Guri would have no trouble knowing about you know what." In Hikari's imagination she pictured Sam's entire world as being maybe a hundred times bigger than Guri.  
"He must know about such things, he was going to get married when he was younger." said Suna.  
Suna then detailed Sam's privacy example when he was talking to Hibana.

"So in summary, when it comes to romance and such like, Sam appears to have been a perfectly normal male in his previous life. He also knows all about it with respect to other people here in Guri. But when it comes to himself, and his socialisation with us, he appears to be completely and utterly oblivious to such things. He doesn't even know he is oblivious." said Kana, after thinking about it for a while.  
There was silence, with only the sound of combs running through feathers.  
"Well, would we really want, say, some middle aged male living in Old Home who does - ah - take notice of us?" said Rakka.  
"Ewww, no way"  
"Ickk"  
And other exclamations of the same sort.  
"So, the Wall, or something, blocks him from saying certain things that may be dangerous to Guri. It also blocks him from thinking about certain other things." said Rakka.  
"Which is just what is needed for him to be a part of our little community." finished Rakka.  
"So, he is not here by mistake after all, as he has hinted. He really belongs here just as much as we do." said Hikari.

Long silence.  
"Should I tell the Communicator about this?" asked Rakka.  
"Don't see why not" said Suna, "It could be important".  
"Also, Kana, I don't know how you managed it, but you have a thread wrapped repeatedly around one of your long feathers. Just be still while I fix it." said Suna.  
Hikari and Rakka took a close look.  
"Yep, sure does. Do you need help?" Hikari said this, but in the tone of voice which suggested that she was just as happy not to help.  
"Nah, I'm sure Suna can manage." said Kana before Suna could say anything.  
"Bye bye". Rakka and Hikari skipped out.

There was silence as Suna started to carefully unwind the thread from the feather.  
"Suna, can I ask you about something else?" said Kana. Her voice was hesitant.  
"Sure"  
Kana took a breath, "It's about Kage. She's nice, but - but - what is the story with her. She friendly, then she becomes standoffish. I can't work it out".  
Suna dropped Kana's wing and sighed.  
"Ah, about Kage. I'm not surprised."  
She shoved her chair against the bed, ending up in Kana's line of sight.  
"Kage is in a difficult position." said Suna. She was silent and then said  
"In her cocoon she dreamed she was cursed with a shadow, in the shadow was - somebody, and Kage dreamed that every time she was befriended or protected by someone, that somebody killed them."  
Kana took a breath. "That's a horrible dream, but surely the dream does not extend to our reality here."  
"Remember Rakka's story of that train thingy that almost got Reki?" said Suna.  
"So really bad cocoon dreams can physically affect us?" said Kana.  
"Well, wether that is true or not doesn't matter, it's what Kage believes is true. So she's cautious about getting too close to anyone. She always has been since she came to Guri." said Suna.  
"Don't worry, we have all been vexed by her situation." said Suna.  
"Thanks, Suna." said Kana.  
"Now be still, so I can continue unwinding this thread." said Suna.

About a month had passed. Sam now had his own bedroom. He had spent the last week cleaning it out and setting it up, with some help from the others.

Originally Sam, together with Mado and Tsuchi, had looked at his birth room and:  
"I think we all agreed that this is going to take a lot of work to restore" Tsuchi had said. "It's fortunate that there appears to be no structural damage to the building, but still. And Stone Mill is over committed with jobs for a month or two, so..."  
So Sam had looked elsewhere. He had found the room that Rakka had looked into, and given up on when the whole door had fallen in. Sam was made of sterner stuff. The room was in a good location, and apart from the door the rest of it was in good repair. Mado had called out one evening with some tools, and together they repaired the door.  
Sam pushed the door open, and it swung to its limit. Then he pushed it closed, and it gently swung around and clicked itself close.  
"Good work, even if I do say so myself." said Sam  
Mado agreed, and started to pack up his toolbox.  
"So, how is it living with a whole lot of girls and children?" asked Mado.  
"Not too bad. When it comes to organising themselves I keep my mouth shut and sometimes have to bite my tongue. But they are all very nice kids" said Mado.  
"It can get frustrating sometimes. We have different ideas about what is important. Like they are always going on about tidying things up and appearances." said Sam.  
"Actually us Stone Mill haibane are like that also." said Mado with a laugh.  
"I know. Kana is good with things like maintenance and repairs."  
"Maybe she should have been born at Stone Mill." said Mado.  
"No way! Then I wouldn't have her as one of my senpai (senior or elder)." said Sam.  
Mado hid a smile behind his hand. Sam sure sounded proud.  
"And my other senpai, Hikari, is always trying out new recipes for doughnuts; some of them are pretty good. Which reminds me, are you in a position to give Kana help and guidance in making something." said Sam.  
Sam described the concept of a doughnut making machine. He left out the bit about how he only thought up the idea as a diversion from the halo mould incident.  
"Kana hasn't fully realised, but as well as gear wheels and chains and motors, it also requires stainless steel sheet metal work, insulation and electric heaters." said Sam.  
"Hmmm, sounds an interesting little side project. Next time I see Kana we'll have a talk" said Mado.

They were walking out of the entrance door of Sam's building.  
"And what really bugs me is the complete lack of security this place has. And nobody even seems to notice!" said Sam.  
"How so?"  
"Well, look at these buildings. None of the entrance doors have locks, and most of the bedrooms don't. The entrance gate doesn't exist, and even if it did, half of the side wall is down anyway. We are in the middle of the country, anyone can invite themselves in and, apart from me, there's no one that could put up any form of defence!" said Sam.  
Mado thought about this. "Don't you think you are exaggerating the dangers? This isn't your city back on Earth, it's Guri. Old Home has never had any troubles in the past."  
Sigh. "I guess you're right. The Communicator implied the same thing. I'll have to get used to the fact that the rules are different here." said Sam.

The following day Sam started personalising his room. The children had been doing drawing lessons and the subject had been 'Sam'. So Sam was sticking up ten pictures of himself (some actually recognisable) onto the wall around his window.

Sam settled down into daily life in Guri. The larger implications of his new existence were so overwhelming that he put them to one side and didn't think about them much. The smaller, day to day adaptations took up all of his attention. He slowly adjusted to waking up in an abandoned building and sharing his breakfast with half a dozen teenage imitation angels. Occasionally he would be ambushed by Hikari and Kana and forced to sit still while they groomed his wings. This favor he paid forward by helping with the grooming of the children's wings. He got into his stride and became, if not a brilliant teacher, at least a competent teacher, of the mystery of maths to a classroom of not particularly enthused children. Hana and Dai were bright and picked up the concepts easily, some of the others, not so quickly.  
He made the deliberate conscious choice not to exert any authority in any area, unless his expertise was required. Thus when it came to the running of Old Home, the education and care of its children, the organised social interactions with the other nests, he meekly acquiesced to Rakka's, and the others', choices. Mind you, he didn't find it easy to do so; he was used to being the one in charge. A group of teenagers, let alone teenager girls, and what's more innocent teenagers, being left to their own devices when it came to the running of their own lives, was something he found troublesome. But it seemed to work. The Renmei, of which Sam was sure included much more than just the Communicator and a few temple gardeners, seemed to organise things behind scenes, to keep everything from collapsing. Sam wondered how much control the Renmei exerted over the town people themselves. It was certainly not a trivial amount.  
His work was proving to be a small refuge from the strangeness of the life of being a haibane. With a circuit diagram on one side of him, a faulty circuit board in front of him and a smoking soldering iron in his hand, he could imagine he was back on Earth, taking a break from police work and building some device for fun. At lunch time on most working days, he would sit under the tree out front of the Electronics factory and eat lunch with Suna. She would sit on her chair, swinging her legs, giving him small snippets of her life, present and past, as an abandoned factory girl haibane. She was avidly interested in whatever Sam could recall about how a girl like her would have lived on Earth. Sam obliged as best as he could, but was always careful to curate his replies, and do it without her being aware. Guri was obviously a protected environment, and he wasn't about to breach that protection.  
When he felt like some adult company, he visited Naoki. Sam found him to be a kindred spirit. Sam also realised, without anything being explicitly stated, the Naoki had been gradually losing social contact with the outside world for some time now. So they both appreciated each other's friendship.  
Sam also visited the other haibane nests. With the resolution of the rift caused by Reki's crisis, Rakka was determined to establish cordial relations with the abandoned factory haibane, and to extend relations with the Stone Mill haibane. Having already broken the ice with Suna and Mado, Sam had no problem in making an agreeable impression with both nests. He awed the factory males with demonstrations of his weight lifting abilities and a few martial art techniques, and he gained the respect of the Stone Mill technician types by his electronics abilities and simple metal machining skills.  
He was, not exactly mellow, but reasonably relaxed and contented. He still thought about his project to write up the life stories of haibane who had gone on their Day of Flight, but he hadn't made a start.  
He was becoming complacent.

But we know that isn't going to last, don't we?


	5. Chapter 4, Suna

Sam clomped up the stairs, opened the door of his bedroom and plonked himself on the edge of his bed.  
The bed was just a dozen planks held together with rope, resting on a lot of bricks Sam had scavenged from the surroundings. It was wide and long, covered with four second-hand mattresses layered together. The unused standard single beds that were available were just not up to scratch to Sam's bulk and size.  
It had been a long tiring day. For a start, the children were unusually restless this morning during their math's session. Sam was beginning to ruefully conclude that he will not be responsible for teaching any budding maths geniuses. Then there was a much bigger pile of broken radios to fix than usual. He didn't even get to talk to Suna at lunch time, for some reason she wasn't in. Finally, he had started weight lifting exercises at the factory, two days a week. And this afternoon was one of those days. So he was a bit tired.  
His day was about to get longer.

There was a knock at the open door.  
"Come in" said Sam, without bothering to look.  
Suna walked in and stood in front of him, holding a small parcel. Since Sam was sitting, their heads were at the same level. She looked at his face as if admiring a particularly fine piece of art, or maybe somebody's sleeping baby.  
"?" went Sam.  
"When I first arrived here, I had this continual vague fear of being left alone or being abandoned. I wasn't confident about myself at all. Seeing Midori's anguish over almost losing Hyouko didn't make it any better. But over the years my confidence has improved. Midori and Hyouko forgiving Reki helped. And finally you, the one who said you would not leave me in my cocoon dream, actually came back. I feel that I am complete. Thank you." said Suna.  
She reached over and kissed him lightly on the cheek.  
"I have gift for you. I kept an occasional diary, especially of my early days here. I would like you to have it." said Suna.  
She handed him the parcel. As she did, her halo momentarily dimmed, and then brightened again.  
Sam's hands reached out to take the parcel, and her hands were in his for a moment. Then she stepped back, said "Bye bye!" and skipped out of the door.

Sam listened to her footsteps going down the hallway, and then there was silence.  
"What?"  
Feeling simultaneously moved and puzzled, he got up, carefully placed the parcel on his bookcase, and got ready for tea.

He plonked himself down again, this time at his specially reinforced chair in the guest room dining area. Tea was cooked and ready to serve. Rakka was sitting on the sofa with the twins, trying to show them how to hem the edge of a handkerchief properly. Kana was doodling diagrams with eccentric gears; she was trying to design the doughnut dough dispensing hopper. Hikari was frying some more experimental doughnuts on the stove.  
"I saw Suna just before" said Rakka. "Is she supposed to be having tea with us?"  
"I suppose so. She visited me in my room and thanked me for looking after her." said Sam.  
Rakka put down her sewing and looked thoughtful.  
"She said she felt complete and she gave me her diary as a gift", said Sam.  
Kana gave a gasp and dropped her pen. Hikari was no longer looking at her culinary creation.  
"Then she gave me a kiss and said goodbye." said Sam.  
Hikari turned off the stove. The twins realised that something was happening and stopped their activities.  
They were now all looking at Sam.  
He was thinking "Why are they all looking at me like that? Do I have the plague or something?"  
He was starting to get a suspicion.  
"Also, what does it mean when a halo starts to flicker?"  
Rakka clutched her hands together and gasped.  
Kana slammed her hands onto the table and stood up, "Sam! How long ago did you see her!" she said.  
"About an hour"  
Rakka jumped up, grabbed the twins, one in each hand, and rushed out the door. "Hurry, we can still be on time!"  
Hikari grabbed one of Sam's hands. Kana grabbed the other.  
"Get up you stupid man!" shouted Kana, "and follow Rakka."

They were outside, on the grassy hill next to the Old Home, looking towards the Western Woods.  
"This is all about a Day of Flight, isn't it" said Sam. He was late to the conclusion, but he did get there.  
"Yes. Your description of Suna's farewell to you is almost a carbon copy of Kuu's farewell to me. This time I want everyone to see the light show." said Rakka.  
"I hope we are in time" said Hikari.  
They waited. Six haibane in a line, holding hands.

There was a flicker, and then a column of light climbed up into the sky. Specs of brighter light inside it raced upwards, slender curving beams of light sprayed out from the central column. After a minute or two it all gradually faded away.

Slowly they made their way back to the kitchen. Hikari's doughnuts were half raw and sodden in the cooling oil. Hikari took a brief look and decided to fix the mess tomorrow.  
Their food was cold. Rakka served a small portion to everybody, and then they sat in silence.

"So Suna has taken her Day of Flight?" said Sam.  
"That's right" said Rakka.  
"She's never coming back?" said Sam.  
"Sorry" said Rakka.  
Hikari was sniffling into her hanky. Kana was picking at the table cloth with a fork. Rakka was folding her hands together, one over the other. The twins had caught the general mood and sat leaning on each other.  
"Every blessed haibane has a Day of Flight. If a haibane misses their Day of Flight it is bad news. I feel glad for Suna." said Rakka.  
"Then why are you so miserable now?" said Sam.  
Silence.  
"We shall see her again, after our own Day of Flights. I am sure. But it's so hard until then. We all miss our friends." said Rakka.  
"Especially Reki and Kuu." added Rakka, but only to herself.  
More silence.  
Sam was no longer hungry. He made his excuses and went up to his room.

Suna's diary, still wrapped up, was sitting on his shelf. He looked at it for a long time, then decided it would be better to wait a few days before looking at it.  
He lay down on his bed. Inside his head was a picture show.

Suna as the little girl he carried across the red sand.  
Suna jumping up and down at their first meeting in the Guest Room.  
Suna telling him it was silly to feel that he was the one responsible for her being here.  
Picking up Suna and flying her above his head when meeting the children for the first time.  
Suna with a clipboard directing loading and unloading.  
Suna kissing him on the cheek and saying goodbye.

He didn't know what to do about all of this.  
It took ages for him to get to sleep.

* * *

It was breakfast time the following morning.

Hikari had skewered one of the half cooked doughnuts floating in the cold oil and lifted it out. She took a close look at it, crinkled up her nose, and proceeded to dump them all into the bin. She stirred the oil and concluded it was probably all right.  
Sigh. "Does anyone want any toast?" she asked.  
Neither Kana nor Rakka answered. Kana was sitting at the table, morosely going through the diagrams she had drawn last night. At the moment they didn't seem to make much sense. Rakka was just sitting there, gazing in space. An occasional smile or look of sadness would flit across her face. The twins were having breakfast with the children and the house mother.  
"I'll make some anyway." said Hikari.  
Sam came in and sat in his chair. He looked like something that the cat had dragged in, assuming a sufficiently large cat. His wings drooped. There were dark smudges under his eyes. And every single crease line his face had ever earned in his previous life was visible, making his skin look like an ancient and badly tiled floor. The three girls looked at each other. This was worse than they had expected.  
Hikari took a deep breath and decided to be the first. She placed four slices of toast in front of him, placed her hand on his shoulder and  
"Some toast?"  
"Thanks"  
"Um - you don't look too good."  
"I didn't sleep very well."  
Sam ate some of the toast.  
"Sam - It's all right to be sad about never seeing someone again here on Guri" she said.  
"I know"  
Hikari felt out of her depth. The other two girls were just watching, so  
"I suppose - the fact that you carried her across that desert and tried to save her makes a difference."  
Small silence. Sam briefly touched the hand she had on his shoulder.  
"I felt responsible for her predicament. I tried hard to save her. But I knew it would all be for nothing. We would die and then nothing. People might guess when they found our bodies, but no one would know. All my effort would be wasted. Instead I wake up in Guri and I meet her and she thanks me. I made a difference, I helped her as best as I could, and she remembers it." said Sam.  
Hikari was sniffling again. Rakka was dabbing the corner of her eyes with one of her uncompleted hankies. Kana was blinking her eyes. But all three girls noticed that Sam eyes were dry, there was no catch to his voice. Sadness and grief and a twinge of guilt, yes, but no tears.  
"Perhaps you can take today off. I'll get the house mother to do something else with the kids this morning." said Rakka.  
"Yes, OK." said Sam.  
He took a deep breath, put both hands on the table and said  
"Thanks for your concern. Life goes on. I'll get myself under control. I shall make myself useful by walking over to the factory and make sure they know the news. Then I shall go to the logistics company and tell them also." said Sam.  
"I'll be alright. Also I think I will make an omelette, anyone else wants some too?"  
The girls were relieved.  
They had breakfast together.

* * *

Sam made his way as hastily as possible to the abandoned factory, hoping to catch them before they left after their breakfast. He was still waking everywhere, he did not feel confident on any of the Old Home's bicycles, and he did not want to prematurely wear out Reki's scooter. As we walked, he kept thinking about how tough, in fact brutal, it was to have companions abruptly disappear. And neither Old Home nor the abandoned factory nests appeared to have any ceremony or ritual to mark the passing of their own. He knew that Stone Mill did, in fact, have some sort of rite for their own Day of Flights. It must give them some sense of closure.

He arrived at the factory's meal room. Compared to Old Home, the factory haibane were a slightly larger group. There was Midori and Hyouko, they who had finally come to peace with Reki. There were the other girls Ame, Kage and Yuki, and the other boys Mawa and Machi. Mawa was the newest; in fact he had been hatched just a day before Sam. And, of course, there used to be Suna.  
The main gate wasn't open, so he crawled through the hole in the chain link fence and went to the meal room. They were all there, not looking very happy.  
"Oh, it's Sam from Old Home." said Hyouko. He was sitting at the table. Midori was crossing the room with two cups of coffee, one of which she gave to Hyouko. She sat next to him.  
"I suppose you're here because of the light show last night" said Midori. She was looking at her cup and didn't look up.  
"Yes. Sorry, it was Suna. She said goodbye to me and I saw her halo flicker." said Sam.  
"Some of us saw the light show, so we thought it might have been her" said Ame. She methodically cut her toast into halves, then quarters, then eighths, before putting down her knife and staring at the plate.  
A long awkward silence.  
"She was here for about six years, I believe." said Sam.  
"Yes" said Midori.  
More silence.  
Sam wondered if they felt his presence was an intrusion into their grief, or if they were too emotionally drained to make even a token effort to socialise.  
"I am not a member of your nest, I know, but I would like to propose something to make all of this easier." said Sam.  
"We at the Old Home also knew Suna. And, as you know, I was the one who carried her in her cocoon dream. The humans have funerals, I suggest we have a gathering also, all haibane that want to attend. We can, just for a little while, remember our personal good times with Suna and perhaps say a few words. It won't make the grief go away, but it can provide a start for our personal resolutions." said Sam.  
"What difference will it make?" said Machi.  
"It provides a means to publicly acknowledge our sorrow, and to feel a part of something bigger. There is still plenty of room afterwards for private grieving." said Sam.  
Ame stopped shuffling her eighths of toast around and said "I think that is a good idea. Why can't we celebrate her life as an Abandoned Factory haibane?"  
Machi said "We have never done it before."  
"But Stone Mill does something like that all the time." said Ame.  
"Should we ask permission from the Communicator first?" asked Kage. She was the least confident one in the group.  
"No we don't!" said Hyouko. "He's not the one that is going to be missing Suna."

It was agreed. Sam would look for somewhere to hold it; since the factory haibane felt just a tiny bit defensive about how rough their environment was compared to Stone Mill or even the Old Home. And Sam said that, while he wasn't going to ask permission, he would give the news to Rakka before she went to the temple that afternoon, so that the Communicator would at least know of the event.

Saying he would be back, he went off to the logistics factory.  
This was not one of their busy days. Hiroshi was standing on an empty dock, speaking to Hibana. Two or three workers were standing around also.  
"Hello Sam. Reading your face it looks like we were right, that light over the Western Woods was Suna departing, wasn't it?" said Hiroshi.  
"Yes, sorry." said Sam.  
"Sad. I know that we were not family or whatever you haibane call your groups, but personally I am still sad to lose an employee like that. Also she was well liked by everyone here." said Hiroshi.  
"Also you look like you're doing it hard." said Hibana. "Why not take a few days off? If I want some radios repaired I can always do it myself."  
"Thanks. I will." said Sam.  
"Also, - If Suna was a human would you be going to her funeral?" said Sam.  
"Of a course!" said Hiroshi and several of the workers.  
"Well, I am organising a ceremony for Suna's departure, perhaps, maybe, it could be held here, say during a lunch time when you have a non-busy day? Then you can attend it also. I will have to get approval from the factory haibane ..." said Sam.  
Hiroshi reached out and shook hands with Sam.  
"If you can do that it would be good. It could be tomorrow lunchtime."

Sam hurried back to the factory. Most of the factory haibane were still there, including Midori and Hyouko.  
"This may sound strange, but I am suggesting we have it at Suna's logistics factory tomorrow lunchtime. Remember Suna worked there for four years, the humans there had a high regard for her."  
Midori and Hyouko looked at each other. Hyouko shrugged and said  
"Well, she used to speak favourably about Hiroshi and the logistics workers, so I suppose there's no problem."

Sam took the confirmation back to the logistics factory, then walked to Stone Mill and left an invitation there, then went back to Old Home. On the way he stopped at Naoki's house. He knocked at the front door and Naoki answered.  
"Hello Sam. You look dreadful. Come in. So am I right in guessing that light show last night over the Western Woods was one of your haibane?" said Naoki.  
"Actually it was Suna"  
"Ahh, the one you carried across the sand. I understand."  
"How did you know?" asked Sam.  
"You haven't been seen my study yet, have you. Here, come upstairs" said Naoki, who proceeded up the stairs and opened a door. The room inside had book shelves, filled with books, on the left and right walls and the wall with the door. The left wall also had a couple of comfortable arm chairs. On the other side were a study desk and several filing cabinets. And looking straight ahead was a picture window, overlooking the Western Woods. On either side of the window were two paintings, one of teenage girl, the other of an older lady.  
"Over the years it has become my habit to spend my evenings here. That painting is of my daughter, and that one is of my wife. I sit at my desk and do work, or on my armchair and read. And, of course, it is common for Days of Flight to occur just after dusk. I have seen a few."  
"Here, sit down. Like a small glass of wine? Now, don't protest."  
"Yes, I will. Although I can't stay long, I need to notify Rakka before she visits the temple."  
They sipped their wine in companionable silence.  
"It must be harsh for you haibane. You come and go in five short years or so, you're thrown together and become dependent on each other, and in that short period maybe half of the haibane you know go, never to return." said Naoki.  
"I have become painfully aware of that" agreed Sam, "and also you in turn will have to say goodbye to me."  
Naoki laughed, but gently. "You will not be the first haibane friend I have seen off. I shall be cheering you on. Everyone will recognise your light beam; it will be twice as big as the others, and not half as pretty."

A little while later:  
"Thanks for the adult company." said Sam, as he set of on the final leg back to the Old Home.

"So we are all invited to remember Suna tomorrow" he finished explaining to Rakka.  
"If you can inform the Communicator about this? I don't think he will object." said Sam.  
Rakka looked doubtful, but agreed.  
"Sometimes, it is better to ask forgiveness rather than permission." explained Sam.

After Rakka had gone, Sam had spent an hour working out how to structure the ceremony. Then he sat at his desk and day dreamed until tea time.

* * *

The factory haibane were gratified to discover every last one of the haibane were at the ceremony. Including all of the Old Home children, under control of the house mother and the twins. Hiroshi and his workers, and Hibana and his engineer, plus Naoki were present. What's more, there were half a dozen other humans present. Word had gotten around and apparently Suna had made a good impression amongst the humans also. The ceremony was short and direct. Hyouko gave speech about Suna's life as an abandoned factory haibane. Rakka spoke about Suna's contributions to Old Home. Tsuchi said a few words of condolences from the Stone Mill group. Hiroshi commented on how well Suna did at work and on the respect Suna earned from her work companions, and expressed his gratification at the humans being invited. Finally Sam got up and in a few words described his last walk across the desert and his reunion with Suna in Guri.  
After the formal part was over, the people milled around, talking with each other. Sam, feeling emotionally drained, was content to stand on one side and just watch.  
He noted, with faint amusement, that just like every other funeral he had ever attended, after the formal bit the audience aggregated together with the ones they already knew. Apparently even with wings and a halo, the haibane were still humans in their behaviour. From the Stone Mill nest Mado was talking about repairing scooters with Midori, and Tsuchi was talking about future social events with Rakka. Kana was talking with the abandoned factory girl Kage. Apart from that, the haibane from each of the three nests mostly stuck together. The humans stayed together also. Of course, the house mother and the twins were kept busy keeping the children under control.  
Finally the lunch hour was over. The crowd went their various ways. Kana and Hikari returned to their jobs, while the rest of the Old Home haibane walked back home.

That night he had another dream about the red sand, the horizon and the blue sky. In it was Suna, not as the little girl he had carried, but as he had seen her in Guri. She stood there, smiled at him, waved happily, and wasn't there anymore. Sam looked around the empty horizon.  
"So, I still don't know where to go, and apparently Suna is not the one who's going to be telling me, so what's the point of this?"

The next day each of the three nests was surprised to receive a delivery of fresh fruit and vegies, enough for a week's supply. Each delivery was accompanied by a note:  
"Our condolences for your loss. Also thank you for allowing us to attend Suna's ceremonial service." from Guri Logistics and Guri Electronics.

Sam sat in his room. He still didn't have the courage to look a Suna's diary just yet. He ruminated about the events of the last few days. He was recovering, gradually. He realised that he had become too complacent after his first month in Guri. And he now had a mission. Make it just a bit easier for future haibane, by writing down the stories of past haibane. Record for the future what worked and what didn't; what difficulties there may be and how were they overcome. Do his best to prevent another near disaster of the type that Reki suffered through. He was going to be proactive. If he wasn't called up to the temple at least once by the Communicator over this, then he would know he just wasn't trying hard enough.  
He got a piece of paper and began to plan his campaign.

* * *

His campaign started easy enough.  
"Hello Rakka. As you might remember, I am gathering the stories of past and present haibane. Perhaps you can spend the next hour, before you go off to the temple, and give me a few details?"  
"Yes, I can. Where would you like to start?"  
"From what I can gather, Reki's and Nemu's stories, plus yours and Kuu's, are all tangled together. Perhaps start anywhere and I will sort it out?"

"Hi Kana. Let's see those plans you have been working on."  
"Hmm, I think the best way is to make it in separate, self-contained modules, starting with the doughnut dispensing hopper. That way you can have the satisfaction of getting one part finished, then going on to the next. Mado and Kabe are coming over tomorrow to finally start repairing my cocoon birth room. So you can discuss with Mado your initial designs."  
"Oh, and while you have some free time, would you like to continue with your story of finding Kuu's cocoon..."

"Hello Mr Baker. Hello Hikari. Some short bread please, I'm treating the Old Home crew tonight."  
"Here, let me carry the goodies as we walk home. By the way, as we stroll along, perhaps you can tell me about Nemu's departure?"

"Kana, I hear you are visiting the abandoned factory tonight to see your friend Kage."  
"Yeah, I am" replied Kana, but in a despondent tone. This was so unexpected by Sam that he changed what he was going to say next.  
"Why the long face?" he asked, instead.  
"It's about Kage. You know how I told you about her horrible little cocoon dream?" she said.  
"Yes" said Sam  
"About how she was trapped in this endless circle of fear of getting close to anyone, or asking for their help?" she said.  
She leant onto Sam; put her head onto his side.  
"It's finally come to this; she has now got black spots on her wings. And she has been here for about six years".  
Sam thought about it. Six years. Which means she must be getting close to her Day of Flight time. Which, if she is still Tsumitsuki, will mean she will become a failed haibane.  
Sam wrapped an arm around Kana.  
"I'm sorry. I was going to ask about coming with you so I could see Hyouko and Midori" said Sam  
"For your project?"  
"Yeah, I can't keep a secret, can I? But I will leave that for the time being."

"Tsuchi, I have this little project to..."  
"Record in writing the lives of departed haibane, yes? Where would you like me to start?"

Naoki was kind enough give him a pack of blank writing paper.  
"It's been sitting in my desk for years, so it qualifies as both second hand and unwanted. Also have some of these old empty folders."  
The folders had labels like "Accounts/Second Hand Shop" and "Debits/Guri Groceries".  
"Thanks".  
And then he reached over and took a moderate sized box of his shelf. "This contains two bottles of a nicely aged wine, and two proper wine glasses. You're going to be inviting me over to your room one of these days, and since I like to be royally entertained, I had better provide the means."  
"They are all old, but perhaps there is no need to say anything about this to the Renmei."  
"Yes, indeed. I will invite you over."


	6. Chapter 5, Kage

Another week had passed.

Hikari and Kana were in one corner of the workshop at Stone Mill. Kana had decided she needed some distraction from Kage's problem, and for that the testing of the doughnut dispenser was ideal. Tsuchi had allocated to Kana a small bench and some tools. Mado had given Kana extensive instructions on safety and how to use some of the machinery. It was also impressed upon Kana that she was to ensure Hikari's safety while in the workshop. On the bench top was the Doughnut Dispensing Hopper, prototype #1. It looked like an out-size funnel, about 40cm high. Made from stainless steel sheeting, it had some gears on the top (including an eccentric gear!) plus an arrangement with a plunger and a hollow piston to push out a doughnut shaped blob of dough. It was powered by a small electric motor also mounted on top.  
Kana gave it a dry run. Turned on the motor and watched the plunger arrangement go up and down.  
Hikari whipped up a batch of plain dough in the Stone Mill's kitchen, and brought it in. She spooned it into the hopper -  
"Hey, this thing on top, it gets in the road." she said.  
"It's not a thing, it's the electric motor. It has to go on the top." said Kana.  
"Well, can it be repositioned to the side of the hopper?"  
"Hmm, well, not tonight, but yeah, next time."  
Tsuchi and Mado were hovering discreetly in the background. They were doing their own work, but they were also keeping an eye on the proceedings.  
Hikari rammed in the dough, squeezing it past the motor casing. Kana set up the hopper to be above an empty tray. She took a breath and turned on the motor.  
Burrr - squelch - splat - hmhmhmh  
Kana quickly turned off the motor. She didn't want it to burn out after stalling like that.  
"Aargh, where's the doughnut? There's dough all over the place!" cried Hikari.  
This was a slight exaggeration; there were only a few blobs of dough on the bench top. And none at all in the receiving tray.  
"Obviously there is something wrong, be quiet while I check things." said Kana.  
For some reason both Mado and Tsuchi were covering their mouths with their hands. Not that the two girls took any notice.  
"Ah-ha. Dumb idiot. I got the plunger the wrong way around!" said Kana.  
Ten minutes later she switched on the motor again.  
Burrr - squelch - plomp  
Kana turned off the motor.  
Hikari poked at the so-called doughnut on the tray. "This doughnut looks like it's been tortured, and then our ten children walked all over it."  
"Are you sure you have the right consistency, shouldn't it be more watery?" asked Kana. She was acting like a small child, trying to deny any responsibility for the vegemite finger prints on the wall.  
"Yes I am sure! I'm the cook around here. This is what is needed to produce a good fried batter item." said Hikari.  
Kana had no choice but to take the responsibility.  
She poked around the assembly and eventually decided:  
"I need to make the piston higher and change its shape. If you help me we can do that tonight before having to quit."  
She moved to the small lathe she was allowed to use. She put on goggles and a hair net.  
"Whoa, Hikari, you need to put on safety gear too. Don't complain, I'm the technician around here. Also tie up your pony tail and put this vest on to cover the loose ends of your top."  
Some grumbling from Hikari.  
After some work Kana had a new piston. She installed it and with some trepidation, she turned on the motor again.  
Burrr - plomp - burr - plomp  
She turned off the motor.  
There were two recognisable doughnuts in the tray, one on top of the other. Mado and Tsuchi clapped. It's a pity that one doughnut was fat and the other was thin.  
"It still needs more work, but that's enough for one night." said Kana.  
Hikari cleaned up the mess left by the dough, and washed the hopper. Kana cleaned up the mess left behind at the lathe. They called it a night, said goodbye and went off to their home.  
Tsuchi looked at Mado and said  
"You're right; this is going to be entertaining!"

* * *

A week later, winter was setting in. And, as everyone had told Sam it would, it was settling in fast. A week ago it was fine. Next week it would be full winter. This week it was cold and rainy, but not snowing as yet.  
Sam was still walking. One day he might get around to finding a strong push bike, but there was no urgency. Walking was good exercise and he didn't mind the cold.  
In his modified oversized rain coat, and a pair of extremely large water proof boots the thrift shop owner had somehow managed to find (had he put in a special order with the Toga?), he squelched his way to the guest room entrance. He took off his boots and coat and gratefully entered the cosy warm inside. Dinner was cooking, he could smell the aroma of baking meat and vegetables and soup from the kitchen. Rakka was sitting on the rug with the twins, putting together a jigsaw puzzle. Second hand, of course, with one part missing. Hikari was filling up the salt and pepper shakers, and setting out the table. An outsized bowl for Sam, normal sized soup bowls for everyone else.  
"Where's Kana?" he said.  
"Don't know. She wasn't in her room when I checked a while ago." said Hikari.  
"She said she was going to go to the factory to visit her friend Kage." said one of the twins, Kasai (or was it Jika?)  
"Did she walk? She told me her bike had a flat. Also her raincoat is still here." said Sam. He eyed the rain drops hitting the window.  
"Maybe she has decided to stay over? They have spare bedrooms, although not as many as we do, of course." said Rakka. She had put down her jigsaw pieces and was frowning just slightly.  
"Hmm" said Hikari, who had stopped laying out the table and was standing, holding the knives and forks in her hands. "Remember that things are a bit difficult at the moment."  
Sam was standing by his chair, showing no signs of sitting down.  
"Perhaps Kana didn't think straight and decided to make her way home instead?" Hikari sounded worried.  
A tiny frown had appeared on Sam's forehead also.  
"I say, would anybody object if I went out for a pre-dinner walk? I shouldn't be too long." As he spoke the breeze rattled the window, now covered in streaking raindrops.  
"That's fine - I think." said Rakka.  
"I'll keep dinner warm for you." said Hikari.

First, Sam, with Hikari in tow, went to Kana's room. Hikari went through Kana's wardrobe and extracted a pair of trousers and a top and took out the only remaining coat. Sam took a towel and a blanket from her bed. He wrapped the clothes and blanket in Kana's rain coat that had been hanging in the hallway, and finally took a large umbrella. Wearing his own raincoat and boots, he waved goodbye to Hikari and set out for his pre-dinner stroll. It was now after dusk. The moon was in the sky, giving some light. Little rivulets flowed across the path, splashing on his boots. The wind, thankfully, had died down. However the rain decided it was the time for an all-nighter. It came down continuously and without relent. He briskly walked down the path, the lights of Guri barely visible ahead through the rain.  
His plan was to walk the normal route to the abandoned factory, checking out any likely shelters on the way. If he got to the factory and Kana was there, then no problem. If she hadn't been there, then he could start worrying. And if she had been there but had left, then he could really start worrying. He passed the first shelter he knew of, a small shed used for storing hay. Nothing. After some minutes he made a small detour to the next possible shelter, a little truck bay with a roof and a single wall. The wall was facing the weather, so inside was dry. At the moment it didn't have a vehicle in it, but  
Sam walked up the little figure huddling at the centre of the wall.  
"Hello, silly girl. Are you alright?" he said.  
He sat down on the windward side of her and put one arm around her. She was shivering.  
"Yes, I'm fine." she managed to say through clattering teeth. Sam decided this was a small white lie. At least he hoped it was small.  
"Also, you are soaked to the skin." said Sam.  
"Here is what we will do. I'll turn my head and you get out of those slopping wet clothes, dry yourself off and get into these dry clothes, and then wrap the blanket around you. That should get you warm and dry."  
"Ok". After a few minutes, "Ok, I'm ready."  
Sam turned back towards her, wrapped the raincoat around her, popped open the umbrella and put it in her hand. He bundled up the wet clothes and put them back on the ground. Then he picked her up and started walking back.  
"I shall come back first thing tomorrow morning to get your clothes and the towel." said Sam. "Good thing the wind has died down, otherwise the umbrella wouldn't work."  
"You can't carry me all the way back to Old Home!" said Kana.  
"Just watch me."

Walking back was harder on Sam. He was carrying a load and walking up hill. But his new body could take it. Wearing dry clothes and wrapped in a blanket and her raincoat, Kana thawed out. The umbrella covered both of their heads and protected them from the insistent rain. It created a small cosy bubble of dry air, idea for talking. Sam, looking downwards to follow the path, spoke first:  
"Now, I don't mean to intrude, especially considering the fact that you are my senpai and all that, but, err, why didn't you just stay over at the factory?"  
Kana was beginning to feel embarrassed. "I should have. I guess I was too upset to think straight."  
"Hmm" said Sam. He had been thinking about that dream of Kage's. He had been wondering if it could be explained by something familiar. Something from his days as a police officer.

Sam looked at Kana's face. "Reach across to my right front pocket, there's a handkerchief there. It's brand new, never used."  
No wonder Kana is upset. Also must remember to beg another hanky off Rakka.  
Silence for a hundred metres.  
"I wonder. Perhaps Kage might like to ask me for protection." said Sam.  
"What good will that do. She'll just refuse like she does for all the others."  
"But I'm not a normal haibane, am I?"

When they got back to the guest room there was only Hikari left, slouched on the sofa half asleep.  
"Hi, were back!" shouted Sam. Hikari woke with a start  
"Eeek!" She collected her wits. "Kana, are you alright?"

A while later. Kana and Sam had finished their reheated meal.  
"Perhaps tomorrow night after work we all meet up the factory. I have an idea that might work." said Sam.  
"And if you do try to protect Kage, but her worse fears come true ...?" said Kana.  
"Good point" said Sam, "also, goodnight, see you tomorrow."

* * *

Sam met Hikari and Kana at the clock tower, and together they walked to the abandoned factory.

It was tea time. The factory haibane were in their dining room. They weren't saying much.  
"Anyone want more soup?"  
"No thanks."  
"Pass the salt please"  
"Sure"  
Mainly there was the sound of spoons being dipped into soup, and jaws munching the vegetables. Sam and co could almost see the cloud of misery hovering over the residents. The cloud was thickest and blackest at one end of the table, where Kage sat, poking at her soup with a fork. She stared at her food and never looked up. Her wings drooped, as if the black spots on them were weighty, dragging them down. Most of the others were sitting at the opposite end of the long table. Almost as an act of defiance, Ame and Midori sat on either side of Kage, with Hyouko sitting next to Midori. As an attempt to cheer up Kage it was a total failure. They sat there eating their meal with the same total lack of enthusiasm as Kage did.  
A bright and cheerful atmosphere it wasn't. And into this scene Sam, with Kana and Hikari in tow, had gatecrashed.  
Kage continued with her concentrated examination of her soup. Some of the others looked up.  
"What are they doing here?" said someone, but without much energy.  
Kana and Hikari were beginning to think the same thing. They hung back, hoping to avoid drawing any attention.  
Sam looked around and decided to drop any idle chit-chat. Start at the deep end. He stood next to Kage. Drawing on recollections of mothers speaking gently to their children, he took Kage's hand in his:  
"Hello Kage. I see you have problems. I might be able to help."  
Kage already knew Sam, of course. So she knew that his appearance was completely opposite to his nature. Still, being addressed so kindly by someone so ugly, was startling. She looked up.  
"H-H-How?"  
"This shadow of yours, you still feel it lurking near you even six years after your cocoon dream?"  
"Yes", in a small timid voice.  
"You cannot let yourself become too close to anyone because you are mortally afraid something bad will happen to them?"  
"Yes, I feel something bad did happen to all those who tried to protect me in my previous life, but I can't remember anything more about it.", her voice was stronger.  
"I must not let anything like that happen to anyone here", tears were streaming down her cheeks. She reached for a hanky that was already sodden.  
Sam, having prepared in advance for this, gave her one of his brand new never used ones.  
"You feel this shadow, or what's inside it, can affect people here in Guri?"  
"Yes"  
"Hmm. You know, I admire your determination to protect your friends. That such a noble course of action could lead to such misery for you does not seem fair. In exchange for such bravery on your part, why not accept my offer of protection?" said Sam.  
"But you would get hurt!"  
"Really?" Sam extended himself to his full height, folded is arms in front of him and jutted out his jaw. "Me? I tower over everyone here. In fact I'm sure you have never seen any humans bigger than me either."  
"But -"  
"Let me fill in some details. I was a high ranking police officer. Sometimes I would have to deal with situations like yours. Sometimes a man, who may or may not have been big in size, but who had a black and shrivelled soul, would lie and deceive their way into the life of an unfortunate person. In your case, maybe that person was your mother, looking after you and maybe other children. A mother who needed support for herself and her children in their daily lives. She might have initially thought the offer of help and companionship was sincere. She becomes trapped in an abusive relationship, and cannot see her way out. She, and the ones around her, become a victim to a predator. A predator that hides in the shadows and doesn't reveal himself to society, who preys on the defenceless, who ruins lives and slinks away into the darkness again."  
By now the others were in rapt attention. As Sam was talking the three sitting next to Kage had imagined, surely it must have been their imagination, a cold and dark cloud forming. The backs of their necks, and their wings, felt a prickly and vaguely unpleasant chill. As Sam's talk had proceeded, they had silently gotten out of their chairs and moved towards the other end of the table. In fact all of the others had moved back, away from ground zero of whatever might be happening. Sam and Kage had, in their turn, completely forgotten about the presence of the others.  
"So, why not take my hand?" asked Sam.  
"You might get hurt..."  
"Have you heard of the expression 'Big enough and ugly enough to look after himself'?" said Sam.  
"Where will you ever find anybody bigger or uglier than me?"  
To the onlookers, the dark cloud continued to grow.  
Kage had the expression of a ten year old girl, left alone in a strange and threatening place, with the shadows of dusk creeping in. She looked at Sam, big and ugly, towering over her, speaking with a kind and gentle voice. He reached out with one massive hand. She hesitated, and then she took a breath, firmed her jaw line and said:  
"Please look after me."  
The room around them blackened and became different. Darker. There were toys on the floor and an unmade bed in the corner with a teddy bear on it. There was a crack and the bedroom door slammed open. Something came in, but whatever it was hidden in shadow. It made a noise, threatening and horrible, but no words could be understood. Kage screamed and jumped at Sam, clutching his hand with one of her's and wrapping the other arm around him. Sam looked at the shadow approaching. Somewhere inside it were red eyes, glaring at him. It advanced towards him and Kage.  
"Actually, you don't frighten me at all." said Sam.  
Everything stopped. The noise faded away.  
"I know you. You're the scum, the dredge that lives in the corners and cracks of society. You're afraid of the light. You find the down and out and turn them into victims, trapping them. You're a coward, only picking on the weak and defenceless. But there's only one of you. I'm the police. There are many of us. We track you down, we bring you to justice, we have the whole of society backing us, once we are aware of you can't escape."  
The other haibane were watching with expressions that ranged from alarm through to dread. One of them, Mawa, even had a look of pure fear.  
Sam felt his waist with has free hand. Yep, he miraculously had his police officer's utility belt on. He lifted off the handcuffs:  
"You are under arrest." He carefully disengaged Kage's hand from his, reached out into the shadow and grabbed two wrists. There was a satisfying double click as he applied the cuffs.  
Police officer Harrison loomed out of the darkness from the doorway and stood next to Sam and whoever the shadow was hiding.  
"Harrison? Is that really you?" said Sam.  
"Too right it is, sir. I just couldn't resist one more time. Although I must say those wings and halo make an interesting addition to your ugly looks!" said Harrison. "Good work, Sam. Shall I take him away?"  
"Please do." said Sam.  
"If you please sir! Come this way!" Harrison started to drag whatever was still hidden in the shadow away.  
He stopped.  
"Oh, by the way, you know that pilot who abandoned you? We were on to him as soon as he landed. He tried to make a run for it by taking off again, but he ran out of fuel. He would have spun into the ground and died about the same time as you and the little girl died."  
With his free hand Harrison extended his index finger and made a spiral motion, pointing down.  
With that, Harrison dragged the shadow away. They receded into the distance, and as they did the light brightened and the factory dining room slowly reappeared around them.

Sam, with Kage hugging his waist with enough force to impede his breathing, stood there. He was feeling stunned. He hadn't expected anything quite so dramatic. Arresting the shadow's occupant and also seeing Harrison again, and having that news about the pilot, left him overwhelmed. Eventually he got himself together. He reached down with one hand and patted Kage's back.  
"Do you think you could possibly relax your grip?"  
"Uhh, yes" said Kage. She relaxed and held his hand instead.  
"Thanks" she managed, after a while.  
Sam stroked her wings.  
"Nice charcoal coloured wings. Neither black nor white, just a nice uniform charcoal."  
"Oh" Kage turned her head from side to side to see her wings. "Wonderful"  
Sam sank down to his knees, so that they were side to side, their heads at the same level. He put one arm around her and she leant into his embrace.  
"Thank you" said Kage. She couldn't think of anything else to say.  
"No problems. I don't know if you can do this, but I would like to ask of you a favour in return, if I may" said Sam.  
"Anything"  
"Us haibane form deep friendship bonds with each other. Especially after something like what has happened. You, and others, mean something to me. And then, after a too short a period, you, and others, go on their Day of Flight. Which is sad, but that's the way it is."  
Sam was silent a moment.  
"So I'm asking a big favour, if you can. When it is you time to go, please tell us all beforehand. Give me, and others, a chance to say a final goodbye and to know it."  
Sam was looking at Kage, his eyes were pleading.  
"I, I, am I allowed to do that?" said Kage.  
Sam lifted his eyebrows. "Whose Day of Flight is it?"  
Kage firmed up her jaw line, again, and said "Ok, I will do my best!"  
They stood up, turned to face the room and held hands. They belatedly remembered that they had an audience.

There was a certain amount of excitement, bordering onto hysteria, over the next half hour. They checked her wings. The ones who were the hugging type hugged her and they hugged Sam. The others shook hands or held hands with both. Some laughed, some cried, some looked on with amazement and wonder. They compared notes about what they had seen, and discovered that everyone had a different recollection. No one, including Kage, remembered Harrison's appearance, and Sam wasn't about to say anything. Apart from Sam, Kage had the most complete recall, while others recalled only parts. Mawa clearly remembered Sam's speech about the police force. Ame and Midori remembered the bed with the teddy bear and the floor strewn with toys. Hyouko and some of the other boys had a clear impression of Sam handcuffing - something - in the shadow. They all could remember the shadow, and its menace.  
Everyone had to congratulate Kage. Kana had held her hands and said  
"Perhaps you can come over to Old Home soon for tea?" Kage agreed.

After a while their churning emotions quietened down. Sam and Kana and Hikari were invited to the table and this time it was a joyous meal. They were given two spare bedrooms and they stayed the night before leaving for their jobs in the morning.

* * *

A couple of weeks later, Kana, with help from Hikari and the crew at Stone Mill, had finally gotten the doughnut dispenser working. She had taken it to Old Home, and due to a severe lack of space in the kitchen, had installed it on a table sitting under the veranda of the guest room. Kana had found a portable hot plate, so the current arrangement had the dispenser sitting above a pan of oil which sat on the hot plate which was on a folding table. Not the best arrangement, but they kept the kids away when they were using it. A waterproof cloth covered the whole lot when not in use. It was a new item, so technically they were not allowed to use it. However they were the ones building it, and its eventual destination was the bakery, so they had decided to continue as they were, and hope the Communicator didn't complain.  
Munch - munch - munch  
"Hmm, not bad" said Sam, as he and everyone else, including the children, sampled some doughnuts.  
Hikari smiled in pleasure as she made the last batch of doughnuts. Since only the dispenser was working, every time it plopped a doughnut into the oil she would move it with a spatula to make way for the next one. Kana carefully timed the on/off switch to produce the right number of doughnuts. The table was marked off with traffic cones and red tape, to prevent the children from running too close to the hot oil.  
The children were getting full and beginning to lose interest in any more. Kana switched off the power and Hikari started the clean up process.  
"So I believe the next item will be the dispenser timer/counter" said Sam. "Which is purely clock work, plus a couple of electrical connections to the dispenser."  
"So I need to ask Oyakata for help on this one?" said Kana.  
"You sound really enthusiastic about that, don't you?" said Sam.  
"He's always growling at me."  
"And you are always late and being a brat."  
"Oh man, I need to think this through."  
"Yes, you do. May I suggest that if you show some care for him, he might be better disposed towards helping you out." said Sam  
"How do I care for him? I'm just a not particularly important apprentice."  
"By doing the things that are within your power and responsibility to do. Like being on time, you know. Moderating your replies to him so as to be a tiny bit more respectful. That sort of thing. Take the effort, and be seen to be taking an effort." said Sam.  
"I suppose you will next be saying that I should be doing all that regardless of whether or not I want some help from him." said Kana.  
"You're getting the idea!" said Sam.  
Kana sighed. "Ok".

Kana sat at the bench in her room. She had swept to one side the detritus of tools, bits of clockwork, wire, pieces of metal and wood shavings currently occupying the centre of her bench, and had laid out a sheet of blank paper. She wrote on the top:

1) Be on time.

After some reflection she realised it had to be

1) Be slightly early

Otherwise minor delays could sidetrack her timing. Of a course, if she was very early, she could have a chat with Kage, since she went early to various factories on her cleaning duties. Kage had modelled her job situation to reflect her fear of getting to close to anyone; she swept floors and emptied bins in half a dozen different factories. She rarely interacted with any humans at all.  
Hmm, she changed the note again:

1) Find out what times Kage goes to the closest factories to the clock tower, and adjust my times accordingly.

So she could achieve two goals with the one change.

2) Don't talk back.

She looked at this entry. She put her head on her hands and thought about it. Maybe she was occasionally a brat? Why did she have to behave like that? For the next hour she did nothing but stare at the page and doing some serious thinking.

As it turned out, Kage's schedule was all over the map, varying according to the day of the week. Sometimes Kana could see her before work, sometimes after work, and sometimes at lunchtime. If it was lunchtime, Sam would often join in for a chat. Whatever, Kana started turning up at work on time.

Oyakata arrived at the door of the clock tower shop front just as the clock was chiming 9:00 am. And, as if by clockwork, Kana unlocked the front door and hung up the Open sign.  
"Oh, good morning master. I hope you enjoyed your morning walk to here?" said Kana. "Although it is cold outside."  
"Yes, probably start snowing later on." said Oyakata. He watched as Kana got the shop till ready and prepared the day's ledger.  
"Have you, by chance, been talking to Sam about various things..." said Oyakata.  
"Yes - I have. Errrrr - If in the past I have been just a little bratty, I would like to apologise. I hope to do better in future." by now Kana face was red. She turned and watched the street for a while.  
Oyakata was taken with this. He appreciated the change. With the wisdom of years of experience, he also wondered if Kana wanted help in her new project, he knew about the doughnut maker from conversations with Hikari at the bakery. He asked:  
"Does this also mean you want some help with your new project?"  
Kana went crimson. "I - I - not changing my behaviour just because I want to get a favour."  
Oyakata smiled, he was amused. "That's all right. If you're willing to make an effort to pay me back, then I'm willing to make an effort also."  
"Thanks!"  
"At lunch time bring me any plans you might have, and I will see what I can do."

* * *

Kana was not the only one doing some introspection about their lives.

Hikari had always had some play time with the children, but lately she had decided to get more committed about it and spend at least an hour twice a week looking after them in a more formal fashion. The first time she spent a full hour looking after them everything appeared to go all right. Nobody was injured, no children were lost and not too many fights had broken out.  
Hana was such a sweetie, thought Hikari. Dai was nice also. Dai had probably been Reki' favourite, although Hikari wasn't sure. But Hikari's favourite was definitely Shorta. She handed over control to the house mother, who had been keeping a watchful eye on things, without interfering.  
"Was that all right?" asked Hikari.  
"That was fine, although ... you did devote most of you attention to Hana and Shorta. It's probably best to divide one's attention across all ten, and save your favourites to private play time." said the house mother. A mild rebuke, gently given.

Hikari managed to keep a smile on her face until she got to her room, then she collapsed on her bed with tears. She had thought she was going so well. Now she was mortified to find out she was mistaken, embarrassed that the house mother had to actually tell her off. Maybe she wasn't any good anyway. Maybe looking after children was too hard for her; she could always stick to cooking. It would be so humiliating to go back and spend the next hour with the children, knowing that the house mother was watching and evaluating her.  
And as this storm of self criticism swept over her, she had a sudden image of Reki. Who was always so good with the children. And who, according to Rakka, suffered every single day from Tsumitsuki, started every single day with waking up from her nightmare with a scream. If Reki could manage to learn to cope with the demands of ten children while suffering from such a burden, why couldn't she?  
"Reki, you were sometimes such a pain, but I miss you." said Hikari. More tears.  
Maybe, just maybe, being told off by the house mother wasn't quite as bad as suffering from Tsumitsuki? Perhaps she could learn from what the house mother had said?  
Hikari got a piece of paper and a pen. At this stage, she thought, Kana would be drawing pictures of gears. So she drew a picture of a large gear outline on her page, with ten teeth. One per child. She named the gear teeth after each child, and put her own name in the middle. Now, according to Kana, gear wheels have to be balanced. Well, Hikari didn't care why, but her own interactions with the children had to be balanced, so the gear analogy was good enough.  
She stared at the diagram. Presently she began to write little notes against the name of each child, describing how she could deal with each, what each child was like, how to deal with the situation when particular children demanded too much of her attention.  
Responsibility, plan ahead. Don't be impetuous, but still have fun.  
Maybe if she tried really hard, she would be blessed by Reki, perhaps she could feel Reki was with her, just a little.

Eventually she dried her eyes and went down to prepare the evening meal. She still had that responsibility, after all.

* * *

A few days later Sam and Kana were having tea with the factory haibane. Ame and Kage, with big smiles on their faces, watched as Sam put away the last of the food on his plate.  
"Sure you don't want another cart load of stew, Sam?" asked Kage.  
"Oh no" said Machi, one of the factory boys, "He's already eaten this week's food supply and now you want him to start on next week's!"  
"No, I'm fine" said Sam.

Kana volunteered to help Ame and Kage wash the dishes. Midori invited Hyouko and Sam to her room.

Sometime later Sam finished writing his notes.  
"That has been a big help, listening to your stories. Now all I have to do is to put them into order." said Sam.  
"I've been looking at the other notes I have made, it appears that the editing stage is going to be more complicated than I thought. But that's my problem."  
He stretched is arms and wiggled his fingers to try to remove the writer's cramp. He looked around Midori's room. She didn't have an enclosed wardrobe, only an open rail. Various jeans and jumpers and tops and belts and skirts were jumbled up along its length, including a:  
"You own a frilly full length dress?" asked Sam.  
"Hyouko gave it to me once. I didn't take the hint."  
Sam spotted a stuffed rabbit on the only shelf in the room.  
"Is that the rabbit that starred in your story about...?"  
"Yep, that's the one. The one Reki repaired for me, and the one I was holding as I fell over trying to chase the idiot as he drove away, taking Reki with him."  
Hyouko grimaced, and then both he and Midori sat in silence.  
Sam did a little thinking, and then decided he had built up enough credit to make a few personal observations.  
"Hyouko is like a big brother to you, isn't he." he said to Midori.  
"Yes, that's right. He can't help himself; he looks after lost and strayed girls. But it is what I needed in my first years here." said Midori.  
"And now?" asked Sam.  
"I feel like I can now stand on my own two feet, but I am always grateful to him." She punched his arm. "I call him an idiot but we know what we think about each other."  
"Well, I felt alone and adrift when I first arrived too. Looking after someone gave me some purpose. Of course the Reki incident really upset things for a while." said Hyouko.  
"Nemu was able to delay her Day of Flight for years, until Reki went. I wonder if things would have been much better if Kuramori could have delayed her Day of Flight?" asked Sam.  
"We'll never know. Maybe she had already delayed it so far she had no more slack left?" said Hyouko.  
"And now, of course, one of us will probably have a Day of Flight soon." said Midori.  
They both slumped.  
"Seeing Reki off was ok. We all knew it was the end of the line for her, she had to either go or ... suffer." said Hyouko.  
"But it will be tough to be here without Midori." he said. He was whispering now. Midori patted his arm briefly, and withdrew as if embarrassed at such a display of emotion.  
The obvious occurred to Sam.  
"If it is possible to delay ones Day of Flight for someone else's sake, then why not agree between the two of you that you will each delay until the other is ready. In other words, go together." said Sam.  
Hyouko blinked. Midori went "Huh?"  
They looked at each other.  
"Is that even possible?" said Hyouko.  
"And will the Communicator even allow it?" said Midori.  
"It is possible, if you do it. Why not find out? As for the Communicator - his sole reason for existence is to ensure you have a Day of Flight. So, I suppose, I'm not sure but, - well, it's up to you, isn't it." said Sam.  
Sam was silent for a while.  
"Presumably it all comes down to how much you are committed to this idea. Which is dependent on how much you are committed to each other."  
"Which means I shall stop talking, find Kana, and go back home."

* * *

A fortnight later Kage was at the Old Home to play with the children and then have a meal. After a yummy quiche made by Hikari, the children were sent to bed and the rest of the haibane sat around the table talking. Kage patted her tummy:  
"Very nice meal. But now I would like to fulfil my promise to Sam."  
Everybody stopped talking and looked at Kage.  
"That's right, I will soon be going. It definitely feels - strange - to be telling you, but I agree with Sam, it is the best that I say goodbye properly."  
"I've already told the factory gang before I came out here."  
"How long?" said Sam.  
"I think another week or so. My halo isn't starting to flicker yet, so I still have a few days left."

Later, alone with Kana in Kana's room.  
Kage gave Kana a parcel, about 20cm long, wrapped in cloth. "My gift to you. This was given to me by my senpai before he left, soon after I arrived."  
Kana dabbed her face with her hanky, and unwrapped the present. It was a bronze statue of a haibane, doing stretching exercises, her arms raised to the ceiling. It was worn down, with many details completely worn off. It must have been old.

Kana and Kage visited Sam in his room.  
Kana showed Sam the statue, which Sam admired.  
"I don't have any actual gift for you" said Kage, "but I do thank you again. I hope Kana will look after you."

Saturday night was the night she decided she was going. In the preceding days she said goodbye to the three nests. There was also much discussion between the nests on what to do. Should they all gather at Old Home, which was the closest to the Western Woods, to see her off? Or should they stay in their own nests and watch from there? And what about a celebration of her life afterwards? Sam, and the others, were beginning to realise that there were always complications. Eventually everybody decided by default to gather at Old Home. Since Kage was going to start from the factory and walk to the Old Home, then proceed from there, the factory haibane felt compelled to walk with her to Old Home. And then the haibane from Stone Mill decided they would walk with them also. So they were all at Old Home.  
It was a strained and strange gathering. It wasn't a party, nobody felt like partying. There wasn't even much in the way of farewell hugs. That had all been done in days leading up to this one. Everybody walked out onto the hill. Kage formally bowed to everyone and said:  
"I will look forward to seeing you all again." Her halo was flickering.  
She turned around and walked off into the forest.  
Kana stood in between Sam and Hikari, holding their hands. Others stood in groups, some holding hands, some with their arms around each other's shoulders, some singly.  
An hour after dusk Kage's light show lit up the sky.  
Afterwards everyone silently made their way to their respective homes.

A few days later Hikari was putting the finishing touches to the evening's meal. Rakka and the twins were waiting. She turned off the stove, took off her apron, and with Sam walked out of the guest room door and they went to Kana's room.  
"Knock - knock. Kana, we're here." said Hikari.  
Kana came out.  
Since she was a teenager she didn't have any lines on her face, unlike Sam. Nevertheless, she looked miserable.  
"How's it going?" said Sam.  
"I'm OK. Thanks for coming for me."  
They all returned to the dining room.

After a few days it was decided. They were going to have a celebration. The factory haibane were hosting it. Kage had not made any connections to any humans, so there was no problem about having to invite them to a haibane nest. Since Kage also had little to do with the children, having only played with them a few times in the preceding months or so, they felt there was no need to invite the children. The format they used for Suna's was deemed to be good enough, so that's what they did.  
Hyouko gave a speech about Kage's life at the factory. Rakka said a few words about Old Home's friendship with Kage. Tsuchi said a few words about their contact with Kage. Then they had a group meal.

"How are you?" said Midori to Kana.  
"Getting better. I'll be all right. How is your group going?" said Kana.  
"It's hard. We are now down two haibane. But I think we will battle through." said Midori.

"Are you writing up Kage as part of your project?" said Hyouko to Sam.  
"Certainly am. Since I personally knew Kage I already have most of the information. I will be asking you for some more in a little while" said Sam.

That night Sam woke from a dream.  
"Was that another red sand and blue sky dream?" he asked himself. He couldn't quite remember.

A week later Hyouko found a cocoon. The factory haibane were so happy. The cocoon cracked and hatched a week later, producing a mid teen boy. After listening to his cocoon dream, Hyouko selected Michbi as his name - 'to guide'. Hikari got some special delights from the bakery and Rakka delivered them to the factory on behalf of the Old Home haibane.

* * *

Sam was in Kana's room sitting at her desk. Kana was standing next to him.  
"OK, Kana. You need some work therapy. Let's see those plans."  
"Hmm, yes, I see that the master clock maker has been good to you. I think it is time for you to start scrounging for the parts."

"Mado, I need to machine the plates for my doughnut dispenser timer." said Kana to Mado on one of his visits to the Old Home.

A week later Kana took the parts into to the clock tower, and over a few lunch hours, under the guidance of the master, she assembled the timer mechanism. Naturally there were a few problems, but with discussion with the master, and help from Mado, Kana eventually got the timer to work.

Two weeks later there was a small lunch time gathering at the clock tower. Kana and Hikari had put together the doughnut making machine as it currently existed. Hikari had made up a batch of her best doughnut mixture, plus assorted toppings. And they made doughnuts for the master and all of his workers, plus several of his customers. Sam and Mado were also there, of course.

"Hikari puts the dough mixture into the hopper, notice how the motor is to one side so that there is no obstruction."  
"Under the hopper is the heated oil mixture, which receives the doughnuts."  
"Let's see, there are twelve of us. The current pot can only take six at a time, so I turn the dial to six and" explained Kana.  
The machine hummed and made six doughnuts. Hikari pushed them around in the pot to make room for each new one.  
Everyone clapped.  
After the correct time Hikari turned over the cooking doughnuts.  
After some more time she took them out, drained them, coated them in the chocolate coating she had prepared, sprinkled them with roasted almond shavings, and handed them out.

"Very good" said the master as he ate a chocolate coated doughnut.


	7. Chapter 6, Accident

Some days later it was spring. Soon it would be summer, arriving just as abruptly as it had left. It was mid morning and everyone was having morning tea and snacks.

The doughnut maker was back under the guest room veranda. It also had a new addition. Kana had been busy, with guidance from Mado and help from Hikari, and had made the oil container for the machine. It was rectangular tray a metre long, with the doughnut dispenser hopper sitting at one end. In the final machine it would contain a sprocket chain arrangement that would move the doughnuts along in an orderly fashion. Right now it just had the heater elements and a drainage spigot. It also had its own supporting table; the folding table was now only used for serving.

Actually only the older ones were having tea. However everyone was having doughnuts. Kana had operated the dispenser and Hikari had manually moved the doughnuts along with a spatula.  
"I like the one with the cinnamon icing the best." said Sam.  
Most of the children disagreed.  
"The chocolate coated ones are the best!" said Hana, waving her remaining piece around with so much energy that most of it ended up on Sam's overalls.  
"Oops" said Sam.  
"That's mine!" said Hana, as she scooped the remains back into her hands.  
Some crows looked on and gave their opinion about all of this.

The house mother led the children away. Sam relaxed in a chair, contemplating the chocolate smudge on his overalls. Hikari and Kana started to clean the machine. They drained the hot oil into an aluminium pot, and carefully lifted it onto the folding table.  
"Nobody come near this for a while, ok" said Hikari. "It is hot!"  
Kana went to get a couple buckets of water to clean the hopper.

At this point one of the crows took off and flew straight at Hikari's head. Startled, she stepped back, tripped over the leg of a chair and fell to the ground on her back. She was winded and he wings had taken a beating. And as she had fallen her hand hit the leg of the fold up table, and it started to collapse onto her.  
With the container of hot oil directly above her head. Starting to fall.  
When the crow had flown at Hikari, Sam had already started to rise out of his chair. He saw the oil start to fall.  
Sam's world went silent. His brain decided that hearing wasn't going to be of any use, so it just switched it off. His brain also turned up his perceptual speed, so from Sam's point of view everything became s-l-o-w. He calculated his footsteps.

Accelerate off his left foot.  
Hit ground with right foot.  
Left foot, keep accelerating.  
Adjust stride so that his right foot lands half a metre in front of Hikari.

The pot full of oil was now tilting over, in free fall, almost clearing the table which was collapsing and folding away from it.

Bend knees to get torso in line with the pot.  
Raise left foot to clear Hikari; aim for position half a metre beyond her.  
Reach out and grab pot with both hands.  
Calculate the orientation of the pot to reduce spillage.  
Smoothly guide pot to his chest.  
Lift right foot as high as possible to avoid hitting Hikari.

He got a brief glimpse of Hikari face, a look of utter horror slowing forming, and he was past her. His knees were doubled, he managed to slam his left foot to the ground and keep himself going. Some of the oil had sloshed out of the pot onto his front.

Keep rotating torso to avoid spilling any oil on Hikari.  
Area to the left was free, rotate pot to avoid any more spillage and throw it away.

By now his knees were too bent to allow any more running. He was beginning to tumble; his body was out of balance. He was calculating how to forward roll out of it -  
"Wings in danger!" said one part of his brain to another.  
He converted it to a mid air flip, tucked in his wings and hit the ground on his side. His feet were now leading the way, and he skidded and slid and hit the veranda wall with a thud. He moved from his side to lying on his back, arms flung out, and took his first breath since he started.

A second later Kana threw a bucket of cold water onto his chest. She then ripped the front of his overalls off, sending buttons flying everywhere, and poured on half of the other bucket of water. For good measure she used the rest of the bucket on his hands.

Sam's perception went back to normal. He could hear screams, the sound of gravel flying, water splashing off him. He struggled up and looked back  
"Hikari!" he screamed, "Are you all right?"  
Rakka was helping Hikari to her feet, together the two hobbled over.  
"I'm fine, I'm fine" said Hikari.  
Sam relaxed, the adrenalin subsided.  
And then the pain hit him.

* * *

It took Kana forty two minutes to ride her bicycle into town, grab a doctor, impress upon her the seriousness of the situation, and get back, using the hospital's emergency van.  
Forty two minutes while Sam's skin reddened. It wasn't blistering yet, but it will. Rakka kept pouring cold water over the burn sites, she had organised the twins to run a relay, getting water from the kitchen.  
Forty two minutes while Hikari knelt beside his head, holding his head and arm, while tears streaked down her face.  
Forty two minutes as the pain built up and Sam gritted his teeth to avoid screaming.

The doctor knelt beside him. She took into account his size, opened her bag, selected the appropriate pain killer, and injected it.  
Forty three minutes later, Sam was floating on air.  
"Wonderful. Please make sure I never get my hands on the stuff." said Sam. He had seen the results of out-of-control addiction, and even in his current state he was terrified of the idea of being addicted.  
The doctor was kneeling on the ground, which was soaked with water from all of the wound irrigation being done by Rakka. She stood up and tried to brush off the mud:  
"Kasai, get lots of towels!" cried Rakka.  
"Sorry, doctor, but things are a bit -" said Rakka to the doctor.  
"That's fine. First I will do an initial examination here". The doctor had brought a nurse with her, together they checked Sam over.  
"Now we need to get him to a bed and then we can do a full examination" she said.  
She then spoke to Sam "Can you get up?"

Sam might be floating at this moment, but it didn't make him any lighter. After some struggle he was assisted to the guest room bed. The doctor and the nurse gave him a though check:  
"Yes Sam, I am going to take your overalls off. I've been a nurse for thirty years; I've seen sights a lot worse than your, admittedly ugly, body. We need to check for grazes, bruises and possible other burn sites, you know."  
Hikari and Kana waited outside, looking like two little dejected birds that had been caught in an oil slick, except they weren't the ones who suffered from the oil.

The doctor left to get supplies, leaving the nurse behind to monitor the situation. The girls were allowed back into the room.  
"Hello Hikari. You look horrible. You mustn't blame yourself, it was that ******* crow that caused you to trip and fall over." said Sam.  
"Also, pardon my swearing; please don't use that word yourself."  
"And thanks to Kana for getting the doctor so promptly."  
They sat on either side of him. They couldn't even hold his hands, since they were burnt. They patted his head instead.

The next twenty four hours were a difficult time for Sam and his friends.

"Sam, you need to go to the toilet, and you have burnt hands, so I will be helping you. Don't fuss; didn't I say I've been a nurse for thirty years? When you're as incapacitated as you are, some things you just have to let go." said the nurse.  
Sam was beginning to regard the nurse as a formidable elemental power, to be respected and feared, but never to be thwarted.

The doctor came back with special bandages and ointments. She and the nurse and Rakka and Hikari and Kana had a consultation, out of Sam's hearing range:  
"It is easiest to just leave Sam her. It might be painful, but it's only first and second degree burns. However they will take a while to heal." said the doctor.  
"So you will have take over some of Sam's medical care, if that agreeable."  
It was.  
"From what I have seen of you, would Kana and Hikari like to learn how to change his bandages?"  
Yes they would.  
"And perhaps Rakka should be the only one allowed to administer the pain relief?"  
Rakka agreed.  
"And to save too much embarrassment, I believe the nurse will be able to set things up so that Sam can go to the toilet by himself."  
Much relief from the girls.  
"However, just about in everything else Sam will need help." said the doctor.  
"That's going to be irksome, Sam tends to be macho about accepting help on his own behalf." said Kana.  
"Hmm, nurse, when you go in and set up Sam's ADL's (Acts of Daily Living), try and talk him into getting used to the idea of being dependent for a while." said the doctor.  
"No worries." said the nurse.  
The doctor smiled. "Nursie here has lots of experience, I'm sure Sam is no match for her."

"Ok Sam, here's how it's going to be. You have limited ability to look after yourself. So what if we put all of our effort into allowing you to toilet yourself, and for everything else you agree to let the girls look after you?"  
Sam, thinking only about the toileting issue, said  
"That's fine. Thanks. What a relief."  
"Right. Then here's what we will be doing ..."

An hour later the arrangements were in place. It will be awkward and painful, and consume time, but Sam would be able to keep at least his basic dignity intact. He had to agree that in everything else he just had to let others help him. The nurse opened the door of the guest room and invited the girls in. By now the twins had joined them.  
"It's all agreed. Apart from certain basics, Sam is happy to let you help him." said nurse.  
The twins and Rakka clapped. Hikari and Kana looked pleased. Sam had a sinking feeling. He was beginning to realise at a gut level just how dependent he was going to be.

Firstly, the nurse took Hikari and Kana in her charge and showed them how to apply the bandages. Then it was the doctor's turn:  
"Rakka, I will show you how to inject the Oxycontin. Now there are several very important steps involved, so please pay attention."

Afterwards, when Rakka had successfully given Sam his pain killer while a very attentive audience looking on, Sam said  
"That's much better. You really have Oxycontin here?"  
"Sure, we import it via the Toga. Unfortunately, what with you and some other emergencies the hospital is having, I will have to restrict your usage just slightly. If you can make these supplies last for the next three or four days, until our next shipment, that will be useful." said the doctor.  
She had a discussion with Rakka about dosages and timings and recording the injections on Sam's chart.

"Where did the Oxycontin come from?" mused Sam to himself.  
"Is there some pharmaceutical warehouse in Europe where the Toga ring up and order 100 units of Oxycontin, the paper work is coming by fax? How do they pay? And where is Earth in relation to Guri, anyway? Or is Guri on a world of its own in the company of lots of other Guris? Perhaps Guri#243 specialises in manufacturing drugs, and the Toga form the distribution network? And continuing in that vein, perhaps Guri#813 is the one I would have normally been assigned to, but for some reason I ended up in this Guri?" Sam decided he had better keep these speculations to himself.

* * *

Sam still hadn't, quite, learnt his lesson.  
Tea time had arrived. Sam had struggled out of bed, with Hikari and Kana pushing against the back of his shoulders with all their might. Before she had left, the nurse had already helped him into his pyjamas. He had a bandage over half of his chest, and both hands were covered. He wobbled over to his chair and sat down heavily. The chair creaked. He took a few deep breaths:  
"Sorry, everyone, I didn't realise how weak I have become. And the accident was only this morning."  
Hikari put a bowl of stew in front of him. She had carefully checked its temperature to make sure it was not too hot. Jika put a large handkerchief over his front. Kasai said:  
"Now I can feed you the stew."  
Sam frowned. "No, I am not totally hopeless."  
"But your hands, you can't use them." said Kasai, starting to become upset. She was now holding the spoon with both hands in front of her, as if making an offering. She was looking between Sam and the other girls, seeking reassurance.  
"Sam, perhaps Kasai can help you?" said Rakka, speaking as gently as she could.  
"I can feed myself!" said Sam, becoming defensive. He reached with one hand to the spoon resting on the table. Thankfully he didn't try for the spoon in Kasai's hand, which would have been a disaster.  
In the process of trying to pick up the spoon using a hand covered in bandages, he managed to tighten the bandages against his burns. He jerked with the sudden pain. The bowl was knocked off the table, bounced off Kasai's dress and landed with a splat on the floor. There were little bits of stew over Kasai and the floor. Kasai backed away, the expression on her face wavering. She looked up to Sam as if he was a large and once friendly dog that had suddenly started growling.  
"Oh sh-" said Sam to himself.  
"I am sorry", he said. He decided he had no choice but to go all the way. He dropped to his knees, incidentally landing in a puddle of stew.  
"Serves me right" he thought.  
"Kasai, I am sorry, I still haven't gotten used to this. Please forgive me."  
Kasai looked in surprise at the huge man bowing is head in front of her. Tears completely forgotten, she patted his head. Not sure of what to say, she took the cue from Sam's last words and said "I forgive you."  
Rakka jumped up, grabbed a tea towel from the kitchen and mopped up the mess. Sam sat down again  
This time he did the right thing.  
Jika replaced the handkerchief. Hikari replaced the stew. Kasai put the spoon in the stew, and then lifted it to Sam's mouth. He ate it, and nodded and smiled. Kasai continued.  
Hikari and Rakka and Kana smiled at each other. They were proud of their Sam.

Another lesson learnt by Sam. There will be more to come.

Kasai fed him his stew. Jika buttered and cut up his toast and gave it to him between mouthfuls of stew. Then Jika spooned into his mouth his dessert. The twins were surprised by how little he ate compared to his usual standards.  
"But, girls, he has burnt himself badly. He doesn't feel at all well." explained Hikari. Suspecting that this would be true, she hadn't made as much food as she would have normally done.  
At the end Sam was beginning to feel tired and worn. The pain was beginning to come back.  
"How long since the last pain killer?"  
Rakka told him.  
"Oh, that all. Let me lie down for a while."

While Sam lay down, concentrating on not feeling the pain, everyone else congregated in the kitchen.

Rakka spoke:  
"We are going to have to set up a roster. There doesn't appear to be much choice in the details. I do the pain killer injections, which means at night I'm going to be woken up every three or four hours. Kasai and Jika can be with him during the day time, with a backup from the house mother. Which means Hikari and Kana will have to alternate each second night. We can find a spare mattress and whoever is on duty that night sleeps on it. So whenever Sam needs attention he can call out and get it. I can continue with my job at the temple, except I will have to adjust my timing so it is between his injections. And I might have to cut back the hours."  
"It's going to be tough the day after our night shift, but that's the way it's going to have to be." said Kana.  
"I agree." said Hikari.  
Kasai and Jika were pleased to be part of the team, especially one bearing such responsibilities.  
"I volunteer for the first night." said Kana.

Sometime in the middle of the night.  
Kana was woken from a fitful sleep by the sounds of Sam struggling up. She got up and did her best to help Sam out of his bed.  
"OK, this is the part where it is agreed that I look after myself." said Sam.  
Being careful not to move his torso too much for fear of tugging the bandages and giving himself a fresh salvo of pain, Sam made his way to the toilet/bathroom.

Half an hour later he staggered out and sat on his bed.  
"Oh, my God, all of that just to do a number one." he said. He lifted up his hands and looked at the thick bandages.  
"Kana, if you ever meet that crow, please bludgeon it to death with a blunt instrument."  
Not being able to think of a witty comeback to that, Kana just agreed. Then she said  
"Want help in getting back to bed?"  
"Yes, and a glass of water. How long before Rakka is due?"  
"An hour" said Kana.  
"I wish the Toga would hurry up with their shipment." said Sam. "I say, is that a teddy bear on your pillow next to you?"  
Kana snapped up the teddy bear and stuffed it under the pillow.  
"You didn't see that. If you tell anyone I will personally ..." she stopped at this point. She belatedly realised that making mock threats against someone who was so thoroughly incapacitated didn't actually work all that well.  
Sam laughed. "Don't worry, I won't. Also remind me to not laugh so much, it hurts."

Fifty minutes later Sam said  
"Kana, if you could go and get Rakka now, please."  
"I will". Kana looked at Sam. He had frown lines across his forehead and was breathing in short breaths. She retrieved her teddy bear from under her own pillow and placed it next to Sam's head.  
"Carrot Monster will look after you while I'm getting her." Sam managed a smile.

Rakka must have noticed the small stuffed teddy bear next to Sam's head, but she didn't say a word.  
She concentrated on the job on hand. Sam watched her face as she went through the procedure for injecting the pain killer. Her face was calm and thoughtful, and as she finished it off with the placement of a bandage, she looked at Sam and smiled.  
"Is it working yet?"  
"Yes, I can feel the pain fading away." said Sam.  
Inside his head he thought "She really appreciates the responsibility, and the ability to help someone."  
"Good night." Rakka said.

In the morning, before the twins arrived, Kana tucked Carrot Monster under Sam's pillow, out of sight.

Oyakata walked up to the front door of his clock maker's shop at 9:00am. As he was reaching for the handle; Kana opened it from the inside and hung out the 'Open' sign.  
"Good morning master" she said. There were uncharacteristic dark shadows under her eyes.  
"I would normally say it looks like you have been staying up for an all night poker session, only I'm sure Haibane don't do such things."  
"No master. But I did stay up most of last night looking after Sam. He had an accident with scalding hot oil, but he's going to be all right." said Kana.  
"Huh?"  
Kana filled Oyakata in with the details.  
"But I don't want any special time off, since it is the responsibility of the Old Home's haibane, not yours." she finished with.  
Oyakata approved of the sentiment. Still, he could give a little.  
"Very good. What's say we let you can find some corner to have a short nap during the lunch break?" he said.  
"Oh, thank you very much, master!"

Next night was Hikari's turn. She fluffed up Sam's pillow -  
"Hey, this is Carrot Monster. Did Kana give it to you for the duration?"  
"Yes, but I'm not supposed to be telling anyone it's hers'."  
Hikari giggled and laughed. "I was the one who gave Carrot Monster to Kana when she first arrived!"  
Hikari was also tired at work. Fortunately the baker was happy to let her have the last half of every second afternoon off.

Next morning, just like the previous morning, Hikari and Kana changed the bandages. This was definitely not a fun job. The used bandages had a peculiar smell, and the wounds looked terrible. But the nurse had reassured them that this was normal for burns. As they were taking the used bandages to the waste furnace Kana armed herself with a broom and looked out for some crows to slaughter. But they were too clever for that, and were nowhere in sight.

As Hikari walked out of the front gate and down the path to go to work, she remembered that no one had informed Naoki yet. Feeling slightly guilty, she took a short detour, and knocked on Naoki's front door.  
"Hello, Hikari. A fine day to you, how can I help you?"  
Hikari described what had happened.  
"Right. Thank you. That sounds terrible! I shall be paying a visit. Thank you again!"

Mid morning. Naoki quietly let himself into the guest room. The twins were sitting on the bed, each reading a book and each looking bored. However they were determined to fulfil their obligations. Sam was snoring gently on the bed.  
Naoki whispered "No need to wake him up. If you want to, you can go and play with the children or something for the next hour, and I'll call you if anything happens."  
"OK" said the twins softly. They left.  
Naoki settled himself in a chair at the table, where he could still see Sam. He resolved next time to bring a book.

Sam stopped snoring.  
"Oh, hello Naoki. Come to visit the invalid, have you?"  
"Yes, old fellow. You've been having a bit of fun, I hear."  
"Fun, sure. If you can help me sit up?" said Sam.  
"Another half hour to the next injection. This really sucks, Naoki."  
"I can see." said Naoki.  
Sam described what had happened.  
"What did that crow think it was doing?" said Naoki.  
"Beats me. There's the crow that helped Rakka. There's the crow that guided Kana and Hikari to my cocoon. And there are the crows that fly over the Walls and bring back lost memories. Now, apparently, there's a malevolent crow out there that is acting with extreme prejudice against Hikari, or maybe me." said Sam.  
"Beats me too." said Naoki.  
At this point Rakka walked in.  
"Oh, sorry, we forgot to inform you!" she said.  
"Not to worry, I realise you were slightly distracted. Hikari eventually remembered."

After the administration of the pain killer, Sam and Rakka described the subsequent two days. Naoki had an idea.  
"I say; to save Hikari and Kana from exhaustion the day after their all night shifts, why not let me do the midnight to dawn part, every night. I'm retired, so I can sleep in the mornings. Also I have some experience in looking after ill people." said Naoki. He slowed down and added "You know, when my wife was - very ill."  
Sam looked at Naoki.  
"You want to do this?"  
Naoki looked back.  
"Yes"  
Sam nodded.  
Rakka held her hands together under her chin.  
"That is wonderful. You're very kind Naoki. And of course, at the end of your shift you are welcome to have breakfast with all of us."

Kana and Hikari also thought it was a good idea. As did Oyakata and the baker, when they heard about it.

Ten minutes before midnight the silhouette of a man could be seen walking into the arched entry hall. He was carrying a roll of bedding and a book. He went across the courtyard, climbed up the steps and presented himself to the occupants of the guest room. Who were both asleep. Kana was lying on her mattress and Sam on his bed. Naoki noticed a teddy bear next to Sam's head. As silently as possible he put down his roll and sat at the table. The bed lamp produced enough light to show both Sam's and Kana's faces. He looked at Kana. Mid teen girl, short hair, smiling slightly in her sleep. Face unlined, with soft fine details. And her halo glowing slightly above her. The same age as his daughter when she died. And Sam, age lines across the jagged terrain of his face, relaxed now as he was sleeping. Rough skin and rough features. What a contrast between the two.  
He was drifting along memory lane when another figure walked in the door. This one was also a teenage girl, in a dressing gown, carrying a small bag. She walked up to Naoki, smiled and gave curtsey. "Nice to see you, Mr Naoki."  
"Hi, oh, and I think we have reached the point where you can call me Naoki."  
"Thank you. Should we wake Sam up now?" said Rakka.  
"I don't know. I suppose it's up to you. It's you that's losing sleep time" said Naoki.  
"I'll wait."  
"I must say I am impressed at how you and the others are dealing with this emergency." said Naoki.  
"Thank you. My companions here are so good."  
They waited in companionable silence until Sam woke up.

Morning was breaking as Naoki yawned and got up from his bedding. Kana's bedding was rolled up and put to one side. Seeing that Sam was awake, he put a chair next to the bed and sat down.  
"Hello Sam. Say, is that a teddy bear next to you?"  
"Meet Carrot Monster, donated for the duration by Kana, originally given to Kana by Hikari. But don't ever tell anyone who owns it; otherwise Kana will do horrible things to me."  
"I promise."

An hour before breakfast everyone, including the twins, trooped in. Rakka was carrying the pain killer bag, also another bag which Sam recognised as his toilet bag. The one containing his shaving equipment.  
"Oh-oh" he thought.  
"We have some time before breakfast, so I thought we might decide if Sam's face should be shaved, or if we leave it and he grows a beard." said Rakka.  
"Whoa, why not let me grow a beard and be done with it?" said Sam. He said it in the voice of one who strongly suspects he is not going to be taken any notice of at all.  
"Sam, you don't see you own face and we do. Also you're a man, so your opinion about such things isn't valid anyway." said Rakka.  
"I definitely vote for shaving" said Kana. "He's ugly enough, without having a bunch of hair sticking out of his face."  
"I concur", said Rakka, "he won't look any better with a beard."  
The twins voted for clean shaved also.  
"Hmm, I think beards are kind of cute" said Hikari, "although on Sam, maybe not. So I suppose I vote for shaving also."  
"Wait, can't Naoki have a vote also?" said Sam, trying to get someone on his side.  
"Don't be silly" said Hikari, "Not only is Naoki a man, he's not even a haibane, and he doesn't live here and so has to put up with your face all day every day."  
Naoki was following this serious little discussion with much appreciation. He felt it was a rare privilege to be allowed to sit in on a slice of daily life of the haibane. Over his life he had accumulated more information about haibane than most humans. He had been friends with one once, but he had never been personally involved with that person's life. And now he was an onlooker to six of them in their daily lives. He waited with interest for the resolution of this discussion.  
"Ok, it's decided. Naoki, would you like to show Kana and Hikari how to shave?" said Rakka.  
"Certainly. Let's start with Kana, and I'll show you how to do the left side of his face." said Naoki.  
"Firstly, put a towel around his neck and - gently - over the front of his shirt." continued Naoki.  
"I've got no dignity from this bunch" said Sam, his voice filled with mock despair.  
Naoki momentarily locked eyes with Sam: "But you have something much more precious."

Kana finished shaving the left side of Sam's face. Naoki ran his finger up across the skin.  
"Yep, pretty good. Now Hikari can do the right side."

Hikari finished the right side. Naoki checked again.  
"Yep, good also. Also Hikari, don't worry about those little spots of blood, just hold a clean hanky against them for a few minutes."  
"Can I feel his face also" said Kasai, or Jika.  
"Certainly" said Naoki, "don't bump Hikari's finger as you do."

Rakka clapped her hands.  
"We had better get moving with breakfast or Kana will be late again!"

* * *

The word about Sam's accident had already reached the other two nests. So a few days later, in the evening, Mado and Tsuchi from Stone Mill visited. As did the entire abandoned factory mob, which at this stage was Midori, Hyouko, Ame, Yuki (a girl), and Machi and Mawa and Michibi (three boys, the last one being the new one). Rakka was dismayed at such a number:  
"Please, Sam is feeling better but his burns are still serious, and he's under constant pain relief medication. So be easy on him, no excitement please."  
They promised.  
They acted true their word. They talked to Sam in little groups of two, one either side. Mado and Tsuchi said a few words, and then Midori and Hyouko claimed their turn.  
"So, you're completely at the mercy of a bunch of elegant little girls, heh?" said Hyouko, a big grin on his face. As the oldest male (besides Sam) present, he had some idea of how difficult it must be for Sam to rely on others for everything.  
"I've no choice but to deal with it." said Sam. He lifted up and turned over his hands, still covered in bulky bandages.  
Midori was enjoying herself. "Now a girl gets rescue a man instead of the other way around!" she said. "I'm going to be the first to feed you."  
Sam could see there was no escaping a certain amount of friendly teasing.  
She eyed his front. "Show us your bandages! I need to know where the burns are so I don't accidently lean on the wrong spot and cause you to scream."  
Ame, watching from being, giggled.  
Sam, with some resignation, asked Kana to undo the front of his shirt.  
"The bandages don't need replacement until tomorrow morning, so I am NOT going to show you the actual burn wounds" said Kana.

Midori had fun feeding Sam. "Now open wide, please", "Good boy!" Eventually Hyouko had to intervene  
"Midori, take it easy!"  
"Aww, I'm not being too bad." but she moderated her behaviour.

Kana looked up at the ceiling and shrugged her shoulders. She grabbed Mado:  
"While this mob is torturing Sam, come over here and I can get some advice on the next step for the doughnut machine"  
They parked themselves out of the light of the main table area, behind Sam. Kana took out her plans.

Yuki took over the feeding, with Machi offering guidance. They played it straight, and didn't give Sam any more than the usual cause to complain.  
Finally Ame fed Sam his dessert, with Michibi looking on.  
Up to now the factory haibane had been scrupulously following Rakka's strictures about not causing Sam any pain. Then disaster struck.  
Mawa had sat next to Sam for a talk. Unfortunately, as he was getting up carefully from his chair, holding the back of it to support his weight, it slipped and skidded away. Mawa, temporarily unbalanced, fell sideways and hurriedly balanced himself by putting out a hand. Right on the middle of the bandages on Sam's chest.  
"Arrrghh!" screamed Sam. Everybody jumped and looked.

Mawa apologised profusely. Sam, after he got himself under control, said  
"Never mind, accidents happen; I know you didn't mean it."  
"Also, Rakka, perhaps I can have another injection a little ahead of schedule?"  
At that the factory mob all apologised again and made their way off.

Tsuchi looked around for Mado.  
"Er, why are you two huddling there as if you have seen a ghost or something?"  
They were leaning against each other's shoulders, and Kana was gripping Mado's arm. They actually did look as if they had seen a particularly nasty apparition.  
The Old Home haibane all turned to look. Sam, currently not feeling any pain at all, dragged his chair around.  
"We happened to be looking up at Sam when the accident occurred." said Mado.  
"And?" said Sam.  
Kana spoke in a whisper "Mawa was - grinning - when his fist landed on your chest. He knew what was going to happen". She looked as if she had eaten something really, really bad, and her stomach hadn't yet decided if it wanted to throw it up, or not.  
"What?" said Sam. He looked at Mado.  
"Just as you started to scream is smile broadened. Yeah, he was enjoying himself." Mado looked as if he had stepped on a week old dead rat.  
The twins looked mystified. Rakka and Hikari looked at each other in bewilderment.  
Sam put on a carefully constructed blank face.  
"I think it is best if you don't tell anyone about this yet. Tsuchi, can you arrange for someone from the Stone Mill to pick me up in one of your trucks and take me as close as possible to the temple. I can walk the rest of the way. It is probably best if I have a talk to the Communicator first. As yet, we don't know enough." said Sam.

The next day Kabe from Stone Mill accompanied Sam the final distance to the temple. At the entrance Kabe held up his hands to indicate he wasn't going any further. The temple assistant took a look at Sam's hands, bowed slightly, and disappeared inside. A minute later he came out and gestured Sam to enter. He didn't bother putting any bells on him. They walked through the temple gardens, with some early flowers appearing, and approached the Communicator.  
The Communicator, taking into account who he was talking to and the situation, dispensed with all formality and said:  
"You may speak. You have come here even though it is causing you some distress. Please explain."  
"If you want to know about the burns accident, I can tell you later. Right now I need to inform you about what happened last night."

The Communicator was silent for a while after Sam had finished.  
"I can offer no advice at the moment. But I thank you for telling me."  
"Apart from Mawa, all of the other haibane I have met I would classify as nice people. Even the rowdiest of the factory mob. Surely psychopathic personalities are not selected to come to Guri?"  
"The Renmei play no part and have no knowledge of the selection process. The Wall carries out its duty as it sees fit. I agree that you and Mawa's presence here do not appear to follow the usual rules. But I can offer no explanation."  
Sigh. "I figured as much." said Sam.  
He returned to Old Home.


	8. Chapter 7,Tsumitsuki

Two weeks passed. The amount of nursing that Sam required gradually declined, and eventually the doctor declared Sam to be bandage and drug free. Everyone was hugely relieved. Sam moved back to his room. Naoki and Hikari and Kana had already stopped the night shifts. Rakka now truly appreciated a full night's sleep without interruption. The twins were happy not to be tethered to the guest room keeping an eye on an invalid Sam.  
To celebrate, Rakka invited Naoki over for an evening meal, and after the meal Sam and Naoki had gone to Sam's room.  
Sam opened one of the bottles of wine Naoki had given him.  
"Cheers!" he said.  
"Cheers! And thank God you're better. Looking a little bit uglier with those scars, mind you." said Naoki.

"Something I would like to happen," said Naoki, "I've been invited to a few meals here, how about I invite you all to a meal and evening at my place? Hikari can consult me about what food stuffs we each provide, I can provide some jigsaw puzzles for the twins, and everybody gets to have a new experience."  
"Yes, that would certainly be something new."

Two days later they were all at Naoki's house. The twins and Rakka were on the carpet solving a new jigsaw puzzle (new to them, that is). Naoki had ordered in some luxury foods, and Hikari was delighted to cook something more upmarket than usual. Kana helped, while Sam and Naoki were told to stay out of the way. Everyone drank a toast at the commencement of the meal. The twins were only allowed fruit juice, everyone else had a small glass of Naoki's best sparkling wine (apparently even in Guri they were not allowed to call their sparkling wines champagne). Afterwards they mellowed out, sitting in a circle in the lounge room. Both men told stories (carefully curated by each) about their respective lives. The girls, knowing little about the human side of Guri and nothing about Earth, listened avidly.

Thus, for a period of a few hours, there were no older haibane at Old Home; they were all at Naoki's residence. An old building, close to Old Home, built at the same time and in the same sort of style. And they were acting exactly as they always did, in the evening, enjoying their evening meal.

After they had gone Naoki stood in the middle of the room. The talking and laughing of a few hours ago had raised old echoes in the room, or was it just in his heart? He looked at the jigsaw puzzle, now complete, lying on the floor. The last person to have put it together would have been his daughter.

He took out a handkerchief and dried his cheeks. A thought came to him. He went out through the back of the ground floor of his house, down a corridor until he came to a store room. After some rummaging around  
"Here they are."  
Two boxes, stored away, filled with toys and puzzles. He opened one box; it had toys from when his daughter was young.  
"That could be used by the children at Old Home."  
He looked in the other box. Some books, jigsaw puzzles and other types of puzzles.  
"For either the older children or the twins." said Naoki.  
He carried the two boxes back down the corridor. Has he walked, he gave not a glance at the doors going pass, doors to empty unused rooms, which had not been entered for years.

* * *

Next week Sam started work again. He found it so nice to get back to soldering irons and circuit diagrams; it provided him with his little escapism. The fact that there was a bin full of items to be repaired, a large bin, wasn't so good. But at least he had plenty of work with which to fulfil his obligations. He was also interested to see that some of the items he was asked to fix were the transceivers he had discussed with them, a seemingly long way back when he first started sitting outside eating his lunch with Suna.

Sam also received an invitation to an evening meal at the factory. On hearing this Kana said  
"I'm glad it's for you only. There is no way in Guri I am going to go anywhere near that creature Mawa."  
Hikari agreed.

Sam hadn't heard anything more about the matter after he had met the Communicator. He was thinking that perhaps the Communicator had spoken to some at the factory, and this visit might be a means of them sussing him out about the matter.  
He was correct.  
"Hello Sam" said Hyouko. "This is the night that Mawa has overtime at his work place. Which is why we have invited you over."  
Every other factory haibane was present.  
Midori, dressed as usual in a short dress, top, one or two belts and a scarf, poked Sam in the chest and -  
"Oops, you can take that now, can you?"  
"Sure"  
She poked him again and said  
"The old man at the temple called me and Hyouko in and gave us this story about how Mawa deliberately hit you in the chest and made you scream."  
"We're not saying it's not true, mind you" said Hyouko, crossing his arms and walking to and fro.  
"So you're not saying it is false", said Sam.  
Midori followed Hyouko with her eyes. Everyone else was watching also. They stood with their arms crossed, or on their hips. Not exactly glaring at Sam, but not the friendliest either. Hyouko stopped next to Midori and she looked up at his face.  
Not seeming to notice Midori, he spoke to Sam.  
"Look, you know how it is. Or maybe you don't quite know, you're different from us. We're born to this place as teenagers or preteens, we don't have any memories of our past lives, we are isolated from the human society, and we only have ourselves and each other. Those old fools in the temple will lecture at us and they say they have our best interests at heart. Maybe. I almost got killed when I touched that stupid wall."  
At this point Midori wrapped her hands around his arm. "Why didn't they tell us back then what was going on?" he continued.  
Hyouko stopped to gather his thoughts.  
"We have our own little nest here. Every so often we get a new member. And every so often someone who is a part of our group, who we know well, gets up and goes for ever."  
"And then you come along and tell us that one of us is crazy bad!"

Sam put up both hands and rubbed his temples.  
"I would trust my life to Kana with no hesitation at all. I trust Mado almost as much. Their stories match. I don't know what else one can think about the situation, but that Mawa did it on purpose." he said. "Remember, until Kana and Mado spoke, I did not have any animosity towards Mawa at all. And that shove in the chest hurt!"  
"Yeah - yeah, we all heard you scream." said Hyouko.  
"You could try speaking to Mado and also to Kana" said Sam.  
"Us two have already gone to Stone Mill and talked with Mado" said Hyouko. "His story matches what we have heard about Kana's."

"Ame?" said Hyouko.  
All attention switched to Ame. Who looked very uncomfortable. She fidgeted and hunched over and wrapped her arms around herself.  
"Us haibane don't, you know, have much use for, huh - romance and stuff. Our life is not conducive to it, the ones in our own nest we regard as brothers and sisters. As for the other nests, I really don't think we have the same drive for it that I observe in the humans. Not that you would know anything about this anyway." said Ame.  
Sam dismissed the last bit; it was just noise to him.  
"And?" said Sam.  
She squirmed in embarrassment and wrinkled up her nose. "Well, sometimes, Mawa tries, that is he notices me ..." she trailed off in a mixture of confusion and shame.  
"In other words, he makes inappropriate advances towards you." said Sam.  
"Yes" said Ame.  
"He's not quite as bad as that to me" said Yuki, "but yeah, I've been on the receiving end of something similar also."  
Sam looked at Midori and raised his eyebrows a little.  
"I guess that since I am around Hyouko a lot of the time, he has never had a chance to bother me."  
"Have you spoken to the Communicator about this?" said Sam.  
"You can if you want to. I certainly am not voluntarily going to that old fool!" said Hyouko.

With that sour note, the meeting ended. Sam walked home, with much to think about. The next day he decided there was nothing to it but to pay another visit to the temple, which he did on his way to work. As before, he was thanked, but the Communicator had nothing to say.

A week and a half later, he was invited over to the factory again, for a meal. This time they were all present, even Mawa. Like last time the atmosphere was strained, only it was a different sort of strain.  
"What's going on this time?" he thought. They were sitting and moving around in their dining area. Hyouko and Midori were sitting at the end of one table. Hyouko waved Sam over and Sam noticed that:  
"You're wearing that frilly dress!?" he said to Midori.  
"Yes, a bit of a shock, isn't it." She smiled at him. She was also holding the stuffed rabbit. Hyouko was relaxing in his chair next to hers. For once he didn't appear as if he was slightly angry at everything around him.  
"You expressed an interest in my rabbit, so I would like to give it to you." she said.  
Sam had enough evidence. "You're going soon? Both of you?"  
"Yep, that's right." Midori stood up, "You're only going to get one of these" she said, as she stepped forward, gave him a brief hug, and stepped back. She handed him the rabbit. Her hands were around his, and then they withdrew. Hyouko took his turn and shook hands with Sam.  
Midori's and Hyouko's halos, in perfect synchronisation, blinked.  
After that, the meal was a downbeat affair.

Midori's rabbit took pride of place on Sam's bookshelf, right next to the bottle of wine and the two wine glasses and the diary.

A week went by.

The haibane were learning how to conduct these good bye affairs. Since Old Home was the closest, they still all went there. But this time nobody arrived early. The contingent from the factory all walked over in one group and arrived half an hour before dusk. The Stone Mill mob arrived at the same time. As soon as they were all present, Midori and Hyouko bowed and turned towards the forest. Since it was lightly raining, Midori held an umbrella over both of them. Hyouko smiled at Midori, and put his hand around the handle of the umbrella also, and they walked off to the forest. The rest waited and watched the skyline above the Western Woods. Nobody said anything.

An hour after dusk there were two light shows, one after the other, with a minute in between. After they had finished, everyone was silent, then set of towards their homes without saying much. A week later they all gathered at the factory for a celebration. There were now only five factory haibane, Ame, Yuki, Machi, Michibi and Mawa.  
Michibi had acted as the MC for the ceremony, and spoke for the factory haibane. Sam had spoken for Old Home and Tsuchi for Stone Mill. Old Home and Stone Mill had brought food, so the factory haibane did not have to prepare anything.  
Kana and Hikari had both managed to overcome her distaste about visiting the factory when Mawa was there, although they avoided him as much as possible.  
On their way home Sam spoke:  
"First they had eight, and then they lost two, gained one, now they have lost another two. And one of their remaining is highly suspect. I think they are going to have a hard time."

* * *

The next day, after getting up, Sam sat at his desk. He wrote on a piece of paper

Suna  
Kage  
Hyouko  
Midori

Who's next? He drew a line and extended the list so that it looked like:

Suna  
Kage  
Hyouko  
Midori

Hikari?  
Kana?

After all, Hikari and Kana had been here for five or six years. He stuck the page onto the wall behind his desk. He looked at it and brooded over the implications.

Every morning he would get up and look at the list. Then he would get moving with the day's activities. Every night before going to sleep he would also look at the list.

A week or so passed.

Sam had eaten a mostly silent meal, and then gone up to his room.  
"Kana, Hikari, I think Sam needs some help. He's been like this since Hyouko's and Midori's Day of Flight." said Rakka.  
They agreed.

Sam was at his desk, somewhat listlessly going through his notes for his project.  
Knock - knock.  
"Come in" he said, "Sorry, I only have two chairs. I'll sit on my bed."  
"Sam, you're not dealing with the latest Day of Flights very well, are you" started Kana.  
An age ago, when he had first arrived, he would have never opened up about it. The incidents since then had loosened his restraints.  
"No, I'm not."  
Hikari noticed the list on the wall. She reached out and took it down.  
"Suna, Kage, Hyouko, and Midori" she read. "Then perhaps me and/or Kana".  
"I know that taking our Day of Flight is the only reason we are here for. But I miss Suna. Kage I really liked. While I didn't get to know Hyouko and Midori as much, their departure underscores the fact that you two will be leaving before me." said Sam.  
"Well", said Kana, "for the time being we are still here."  
Both girls got up and sat either side of Sam, holding each of his arms.  
"I think I had better take that list with me, OK? said Hikari.  
"OK" said Sam.  
"Also, visit Naoki." said Kana.  
"I promise" said Sam.

"Hello Sam" said Naoki. He led him up to his study.  
"Thanks for telling me, I was able to watch Midori's and Hyouko's departure from here."  
"Now, going from past conversations we have had, I think I am right in assuming you are not very happy?" said Naoki.  
Naoki opened another of his bottles of sparkling wine.

The next couple of days Sam felt better. Then he caught himself writing out that list again. He angrily threw it into the bin. Then he sat and brooded. Four Day of Flights. Would Kana or Hikari be next?  
He thought of the time he carried Kana through the rain. Of Hikari's look of horror as she watched the table collapsing above her. Of the first time he saw them, fresh out of his cocoon. Of Kana giving him Carrot Monster. Of Hikari, with a big smile, setting a huge plate of food in front of him. In half a year they had taken up occupation in his heart, staking out a huge territory. He wasn't sure he wanted to exist without them. To a lesser extent there was Rakka and the twins. Naoki has a special place in his heart also, nowhere as big as Hikari and Kana of course, but still important. However, Naoki was human; he was going to outlive Sam.  
Was he going to outlive Kana and Hikari?  
What if they both went? What then?  
He knew exactly what sort of danger he was in. After all, he had copied down the stories of Rakka and Reki. Perhaps he should visit the Communicator? Trouble was he already knew what the Communicator would say. And no matter how true, it wasn't going to overcome the main problem, was it?  
He could ask Hikari and Kana for help, but would they give it? And did he deserve it? Did he?  
He figuratively grabbed himself by his collar and pulled himself up. "Get a grip on yourself!"  
It worked for a day.  
He tried to bury himself in his project. Bad choice. After all, his project was recording the lives and Day of Flights of past haibane. The first folder he opened was Suna's. He spent the next hour reliving the walk in the desert, and the time he had spent with Suna here in Guri. It didn't make him feel any better.  
Kana and Hikari visited him every evening after tea. He felt cheered up by their presence, and then as soon as they had left his spirits dropped like a stone.

After another week the inevitable happened. Sam had come home from work and dragged himself up to his room. He scraped his finger across his cheeks. He hadn't bothered shaving this morning. He saw Midori's stuffed rabbit sitting on his shelf, and began to think about Reki, hatching from her cocoon alone, bursting out her wings alone and in pain, tsumitsuki almost right from the start. He then thought: what if both Hikari and Kana left next week? He trudged down to the guest room, not feeling particularly hungry.  
Rakka invited him in, took one look at his wings and gasped.  
"Oh Sam" She held one of his hands in both of hers.  
"Oh, right." He turned his head and saw a couple of black spots on his feathers.  
He stood there, with a blank mind and a blank face.  
Hikari turned off the stove and came out to see what the commotion was about.  
"Oh Sam!" she cried as she hugged his other arm.  
Kana looked extremely troubled. She marshalled her thoughts, and had the presence of mind to ask the twins to stay with Rakka.  
"Sam, Hikari, let's go to Sam's room."

Sam had a good idea of what he needed to do. Ask for help from Kana and Hikari. It was within their power to help him. But, maybe they might refuse? And anyway, did he really have the right to ask such a big favour from them? Did he want to be responsible for possibly upsetting their Day of Flights? He had so much help from them already, surely there was a limit? Did he even deserve all the help he had received so far?

Hikari and Kana looked up at Sam, expectantly. Sam looked at them, and then turned away, his wings drooping. "I think I need to sort this out myself."  
Hikari and Kana walked out of Sam's bedroom, and down the passage. They sat on the top stair of the stair case, holding hands. Hikari leaned over and put her head on Kana's shoulder.  
"What shall we do?" said Hikari. "Can't we just offer our help? After all, the solution is obvious."  
Kana patted Hikari back between her wings.  
Sigh. "You know the rules. Sam is the one that has to ask." She watched an ant crawl up the wall for a while, and then added  
"I wish he wasn't such an obstinate do-it-myself macho idiot man!"  
"A think a bit of macho in a boy is OK. Makes him, err, interesting." she giggled, but only a little. "But not when they're Sam's age. He's got so much stupid it's exasperating."  
"Macho is always stupid. Come on, we can only try again tomorrow."

The next day was not a good one for Sam.  
Breakfast was strained.  
"Hello, everyone" was all that said Kana said. She ate her breakfast, and tried not to look at Sam's wings. She got up and rushed off.  
"Toast as usual?"said Hikari, serving out toast and fried eggs. Every time she passed behind Sam's chair she was unable to prevent herself from staring at the black spots. Were they increasing in number? Were they getting bigger? In the kitchen she smashed two eggs she was trying to crack, and had to throw them out.  
"Now, twins, it just means that Sam is having a tough time at the moment. He's still Sam. Would you like cereal or eggs for breakfast?" said Rakka. Outwardly Rakka looked normal. She was through her third hanky for the morning, but she tried to hide that from the twins.  
"But" said Jika, "Sam had a tough time when he was burnt, but his feathers didn't get black spots."  
"This is a different kind of tough." said Rakka.  
Hikari put Sam's lunch into a bag.  
"Here's your lunch, Sam. And - and - ah - take care, please?"  
"Thank you Hikari. I appreciate your help." he said.

Sam could not face the idea of teaching the children anything this morning. So after telling Rakka, he had gone straight to his work place.  
As he was walking through town he kept imagining that everyone was staring at him.  
"Aw, don't be stupid, why they should care. It's only a few black spots."  
Then someone did notice. Sam could see the human suddenly staring at his wings, then catching his eye, and looking away in confusion. Sam increased his walking speed, and just as he turned the corner, he looked back. That human was talking with two or three others, all looking in his direction.  
"Oh hell."  
Arriving at Guri Electronics he entered and sat at his workbench. Hibana came in and  
"Good morning! Sorry for the rush, but here are three transceivers that have broken down, I suspect a design flaw, perhaps you could"  
Sam could hear the exact moment Hibana became aware of his wings.  
Hibana came to a complete stop, gasped, then said  
"Sam! Your wings!"  
"I know."  
"Oh" Silence. "I, that is, I know we aren't supposed to interfere in your lives in any way, but, I", Hibana stopped in embarrassment, then continued  
"Well I will say it, I think you are a good haibane and you have my blessing." At that, as if he was afraid he had said too much, Hibana rushed out.  
Sam spent the next few hours by himself. Once he had gotten immersed in his work, he felt better. He discovered there was a design flaw in the electronics of the transceivers. A simple oversight, the usage of a one watt resistor in an output stage when it obviously should have a far bigger power rating. He wrote up a report, addressed it to Hibana, and placed it on top of the repaired transceivers.  
Lunchtime. He really should have gone out into the sunlight and sat under the tree. He really should have, and ignored the stares of the passersby. But he didn't. He sat inside at his workbench.  
"Coward" he told himself. Was he going to be spending the rest of his short lifetime here hiding away from the public?  
He gave up half way through the afternoon, and walked out of the building without saying goodbye to anyone.  
He found that, by looking at the ground as he walked through the town, he could avoid seeing the reactions of anyone who have might have noticed his wings.

Rakka had gone to the temple only an hour ago, but already there was notice on the notice board, requesting the presence of Big Ugly Sam at the temple at his earliest convenience.

Should he go now? Or delay until tomorrow morning? He wished he didn't have to go at all, but he wasn't going to disobey a direct order. If he went now, it meant he might see Rakka at some stage. Too embarrassing. So tomorrow morning it was.

Tea was a repeat of breakfast, except that the twins were catching the general mood.  
"No thanks, Rakka. We don't want to do one of Naoki's jigsaw puzzles tonight." said Jika, as she and Kasai went straight to their bedroom.  
Hikari and Kana had escorted Sam to his bedroom, but Sam had just thanked them nicely for their efforts.  
They sat on the top step of the stairway again.  
"He should be visiting the Communicator tomorrow sometime." said Kana.  
"Do you think that the Communicator will make Sam see any sense?" said Hikari.  
"Don't know. Maybe if he hit Sam on the head with his staff, it might make a difference." said Kana.  
"Naaaaah, Sam's skull is waaaay too thick." said Hikari.

Breakfast, again. Hikari gave Sam his lunch.  
"Put it in the fridge, this morning I'm going to the temple, and then I'll be back here".  
"Ok"

The Communicator was flexible. He had talked about the circle of sin with Rakka, although at that stage he was really trying to help Reki. With Sam he decided on a more direct approach.  
"Why have you become Tsumitsuki?"  
Inside his head, Sam went "So, no shaman type circle of sin allegories, just straight to the problem. Probably Kana or Hikari has filled in Rakka with all the details."  
Sigh. In that case he will return the favour.  
"Because Kana and Hikari have taken up residence in my heart. If they should go I'm afraid my heart will collapse. But I'm afraid to ask them for help, because..."  
That came out more poetic then he planned, he thought. He would have never ever said anything like that in his previous life.  
"So do you know how to fix this problem?" asked the Communicator.  
Sam hesitated. The Communicator waited.  
"Yes"  
"Then why don't you?" asked the Communicator.  
"Because it is such a big ask of them."  
"That is for them to decide." said the Communicator.

Sam went home. He ate lunch by himself. He sat on his bed.  
"That is for them to decide."  
What if they decide not to?  
And really, did he deserve such a gift. Was he worthwhile?  
"Of a course you are worthwhile." said a voice from somewhere in his head. "You know that. You have done a lot of good here and on Earth. Cut the crap."  
Great, he was talking to himself.  
But.  
"But what?" said the voice.  
I guess I have never asked anyone for anything truly important... Since...  
"Go on, tell us since when." said the voice.  
Since I asked Tatiana to marry me, to be a part of my life.  
Silence.  
And then she was dead within a week.  
Silence.  
Sam's whole body sagged. He rolled sideways and buried his face in the pillow.  
"Really, the first did not cause the second. You know it. It's was just extremely bad luck." said the voice.  
Course he knew it, or at least his rational side knew it. As Suna said, feeling guilty is stupid.  
Maybe my emotional mind really is stupid. My psyche was smashed and pounded into the ground thirty years ago and I never managed to get up again.  
"Well, parts of your brain are thinking that now is a good opportunity to do something about that." said the voice.  
Should he ask Kana and Hikari? Ask for their help; ask them to make an effort on his behalf.  
What if they do agree and something goes wrong somewhere in their lives and stuffs up their own Day of Flights. What then? He didn't want to be guilty of that.  
But at the moment he was stuffing up his own readiness for his own Day of Flight.  
Do I have the right to ask them? Do I deserve their help?  
"That is for them to decide"  
He was going around and around in circles. Maybe that's why it was called the circle of sin.  
He was going to put his fate into the hands of some girls?  
"Cut that crap also, Sam. That's sexist talk, and you're above that now." said the voice.  
But they're only teenagers.  
"Well, Sam, they might not have your vast depth of experience and maturity" said the voice, sarcasm dripping off like water from a wrung tea towel, "but they are old enough to live by themselves, take responsibility for their own lives and others, and make their own decisions. As such they deserve your full respect, like any other adult."  
And now he was being sarcastic to himself.  
Perhaps he should wait for a while.  
"And then what? Delay day by day, and grind down both yours and theirs spirits?"  
Sigh.  
"Sam, just ask them and stop being so pig-headed about it." This was a different voice in his head, a softer, gentler, higher pitch voice. Was it really coming from inside his head?  
Now he was going insane. That was Tatiana's voice. Last heard one lifetime and three decades ago. He tried to ignore the feelings of grief and guilt that wanted to rise. He wondered what he would have been like if things had gone as planned, if he had married her, if...  
He decided he had better stop right there.  
It was close to tea time. Where was Kana and Hikari?

He went down stairs and to the guest room. Hikari was finishing off the preparations for tea; Kana was already at the table looking at some plans.  
"Hikari, Kana, could I perhaps see you now in my room?"

They sat on Sam's bed, with Sam in the middle.  
"It appears that I have to actually ask for help first." said Sam.  
The girls waited.  
Deep breath.  
"OK, Kana, Hikari. Please help me." said Sam.  
"Of course Sam. You are trapped in a circle worrying that I may go before you, aren't you?" said Kana.  
Sam nodded his head.  
"Well, Midori and Hyouko showed us the way out for that. I'll choose not to depart until you do." said Kana.  
"And I won't depart until you do, either" said Hikari.  
"But - but - your Day of Flight is your entire reason for being here. You want to delay it, and risk the dangers of complications occurring, just for my sake?" said Sam.  
Hikari laughed.  
"You really must be stupid." she said, as she held one of Sam's hands and turned it over, showing the scars.  
"You saved my life! That oil was going to hit me in the face! I had nightmares the whole week! I didn't tell you since you had your own problems." said Hikari.  
"And you cared for me. And you made it possible for Kage to have her own Day of Flight!" said Kana. "For that alone I am prepared to make a big effort."

"Besides which, I've gotten used to the sight of your ugly face." added Kana.

"Shall we go back to the guest room?" said Hikari. "Your feathers are now clear."  
"They are?"  
Rakka and the twins were ecstatic to see Sam back, with nice charcoal grey feathers.  
"That was fast." said Rakka.

The next morning Sam woke from yet another of those dreams of the horizon. In this one Midori was looking at him in exasperation and saying  
"Well, actually, that took you long enough, didn't it?"  
And then she, and the dream, faded out.  
"So now I'm getting mocked in my dreams?" thought Sam.


	9. Chapter 8,Yasaka

Having resolved his Tsumitsuki issues, Sam had a burst of energy. He threw himself into his activities. He tutored the children in the mornings, made a major impact on the pile of radios that needed repairing at work, came back home and played with the children for an hour before their meal time, and finally started to write out the final version of some of the stories for his project. He was so busy that he forgot, just a little, about Naoki. Fortunately Hikari hadn't. On her way home on Monday she had taken a short detour to Naoki's house.  
She had knocked on his front door:  
"Oh, hello Hikari. Hmm, you're looking chirpy, let me guess, Sam's Tsumitsuki problems have been fixed?" said Naoki.  
"Yes!" said Hikari, jumping up and down, "Big Stupid Sam finally asked us for help, and thus became slightly less stupid!"  
"That's good news!"  
"Although I'm afraid he is really busy right now with a backlog at work" Hikari had decided to cover for her Sam, in case he didn't visit Naoki in the near future.  
"No problems. Wait a second..." said Naoki, as he disappeared into his house.  
He came back out with another bottle of his sparkling wines.  
"Here, a gift to the senior haibane of Old Home. Put it next to your other wine bottles I saw on the shelf when I had a meal there. Perhaps I can visit next weekend."  
"Thank you very much!" Hikari bowed, then carefully carried the gift home and put it with on the shelf with the other bottles.

Hikari was also diligently applying herself to looking after the children in a manner that gained the house mother's seal of approval.  
"That was good, Hikari. Would you like to do the same in three days time?" said the house mother.  
Hikari was pleased at the continuing positive feedback.  
"No problems."

The next night, Sam took a deep breath, reached up to his book case and took down Suna's diary. He spent the next hour alternatively reading it and staring into space, lost in his own thoughts. Eventually he put it down on his desk, looked through his notes to find the ones about Suna, and then began to add to them.

Four more days passed and it was the end of a busy week, late afternoon. Sam was currently flat on his back, knee up, and being used as a jumping platform by ten small children.  
"Careful, Shorta, you can't balance on top of my knee, you will fall!"  
Finally the children decided to all stand on Sam at once. Now ten children, weighing between fifteen and thirty kilograms will have a combined weight of about a quarter of a metric tonne. Which Sam could take, provided he was proactive about the proceedings.  
"Arrgh, not on my face!"  
"That's better, but tries not to bounce on my chest, the scars are still sensitive."  
"Hey, would someone pick up Hana, so she won't cry."  
Which was why, when Naoki walked around the corner, all he could see was a pile of children, plus wings and halos, who appeared to be standing on something.

Sam got a brief glimpse of Naoki, so he said  
"OK children, game over. Please get off me - whoa there you two there's no need to fight - and find the house mother."  
Sam, having finally cleared off the last child, brushed some of the dirt and leaves off his clothes and wings, stretched and then took at look at Naoki.  
"Hello, I was going to contact you this weekend -" started Sam, and then he noticed that Naoki was not alone. He was holding the hand of a mid-teen girl, who was wearing a long dress that seemed familiar, and who had -  
Wings? But no halo?  
A shy girl, she was trying to hide behind Naoki, while still keeping an eye on Sam.  
"It's alright Yasaka, this is Big Sam, he looks real bad, but in fact he's nice." Naoki was saying, in a gently coaxing voice.  
Sam just stared.

The house mother had come out of the children's quarters to gather up her charges when she saw the little tableaux. Now all of the older haibane tended to take the house mother for granted. She was just there, looking after the children whenever needed. Probably only Sam had ever taken the effort to find out her actual name (Sayaka, remember?). But even he tended not to think about her much. However, she had been carefully chosen by her employers, the Renmei. She was good with children, happy to be discreet about anything she learnt, and intelligent. She had accumulated a vast amount of information about the haibane in her charge, which included the older ones. She knew more about the haibane than any other normal human in Guri. Accordingly, when she saw Naoki and what appeared to be a just hatched but unknown haibane who was anxiously eyeing Sam, she was able the think fast and  
"Hana! Go to Sam, ask to be picked up, and invite Sam, Mr Naoki and the new girl to afternoon tea with us. Then report back!"

While Sam was staring at the Yasaka, and Yasaka was peeking back from the safety of Naoki's shadow, Hana rushed over.  
"Sam, Sam, pick me up!" she shouted, jumping up and down while holding onto his overall trousers.  
Sam picked her up. She wrapped her arms around his neck, looked at Naoki and the new girl and said:  
"Everybody! Sam and Mr Naoki and the new girl, are invited to our afternoon tea. The house mother says so!"  
"We shall be honoured" said Naoki.  
"Put me down!" Hana rushed back to the house mother.

The new girl looked up and Sam, then at the retreating figure of Hana. She stepped out from behind Naoki, still holding one of his hands, and extended the other hand to Sam.  
"Hello. My name is Yasaka, and this is my dad, Naoki. You're very - tall"  
"Her dad?" thought Sam.  
Sam carefully lowered himself to his knees, extended his hand and took hers.  
"Hello. I'm Sam. Actually my full official name is Big Ugly Sam. And yes, I am big and ugly."  
They formally shook hands and smiled at each other.  
"See, I told you he was nice" added Naoki.  
They walked into the children's living quarters, Yasaka between Naoki and Sam, holding hands with both.  
Looking over her head, where she couldn't see him, Sam eyed Naoki. He looked back.  
"Mr Naoki..." he said out load  
"You have some explaining to do." he mouthed the words without speaking them.  
Naoki guessed the general meaning, and he nodded.

Afternoon tea was fruit juice and pancakes from the bakery. Sam limited himself to eating only one pancake. He was capable of eating them all, but he didn't want to make life-long enemies of ten children. Naoki nibbled one, and the new girl and the children finished off the rest. The children were fascinated by Yasaka.  
"What does your name mean?" asked Dai.  
"It means Gentle Flower. Because my cocoon dream was me lying in a bed of beautiful flowers."  
Somewhere in the back of Sam's head, there was small 'ding!' as a long suppressed memory made itself known. Sam shrugged it away, just a coincidence.  
"Who found your cocoon?" asked Shorta  
"Naoki, but only just after I had hatched."  
"Did you wings hurt when they came out?" said Hana.  
"Yes, then I fainted. But Dad has looked after me, he was very good" said Yasaka, still holding Naoki's hand.  
"My wings didn't hurt at all!" boasted Dai.  
"He's lying, they allways hurt!" said several other children.  
"Can you flap you wings yet?" said another child.  
"Careful!" said Sam, who had been following the answers with extreme interest. "You need to wait a few days before exercising them."  
"Look! she doesn't have a halo!"  
Great excitement from the children, who all crowded around.  
"Give her a chance, she's only been here - err" said Sam, looking a Naoki.  
"A day and a half" completed Naoki.  
"She'll get one soon." said Sam.  
They all ended up sitting on the floor, playing children's games, with the house mother looking on, until Kana's clock chimed out 6:00pm.  
"Children, time for the big ones to go to their own tea time!" said the house mother.

By now, Sam had a good idea about what had happened, and even a handle on why. Of course, he was still looking forward to hearing Naoki's side of the story.  
"Yasaka, it's time to meet the rest of your new nest mates at Old Home."  
Sam and Naoki, with Yasaka between them, walked towards the guest room.  
"This is going to be fun" said Sam to Naoki, "Introducing Yasaka to the others."  
"Yes, because you now know sort of what's going on" said Naoki back.  
Yasaka looked up at the two men.  
"Yes?" she said.  
"You will like others" said Sam. "I'm the odd one out here; all the others are more like you. They're all girls, too."  
Yasaka looked relieved.  
"But, does this mean I can't live with dad?"  
"Afraid so" said Sam. "But it will be for the best. They will explain the rules. And there are no restrictions on you visiting Naoki. Or him visiting you."

Everybody else was already present. For once, Hikari had convinced Kana to do most of the cooking, so Hikari was in the dining area, along with Rakka and the twins, while Kana was coming out with the first course. Sam walked in, a big grin on his face, followed by Yasaka and Naoki. They stood in a line, still holding hands:  
"Hello, everyone. I would like to introduce our newest feather, Yasaka, and her dad, Naoki"  
Sudden silence. Kana only just stopped herself from dropping the food. They all looked at the strange haibane, sans halo, whose physical age was about Kana's or Hikari's. Holding hands with a human she called dad, and Big Ugly Sam.  
Rakka managed to force her brain to generate something coherent:  
"Please to meet you, Yasaka."

Sometime later. Naoki and Sam were relaxing in Sam's room, with yet another glass of wine in the hand of each. The girls had taken over the care of their new companion, and were making Yasaka feel at home.  
"So, I can work out the general story" said Sam, "but still I'd like to hear the specifics."  
Naoki recounted the following:

I got up for breakfast and walked downstairs.  
"That's strange, there's water everywhere."  
I tracked the source down to one of my rooms that hasn't been opened for ages. I opened the door and saw some sort of collapsed grey material and  
"What!"  
There was someone lying on the floor. I stepped over folds of grey matting or whatever it is and knelt beside the figure. She was a teenage girl in a white gown, she was shaking, with tears coming down her face, and giving every indication of being terrified.  
"There now, young lady, I'll look after you."  
I picked her up. She looked at me and seemed to settle down. For lack of any other alternative I took her upstairs, struggling from the unaccustomed exercise, and put her into what used to be my daughter's bedroom. Fortunately I had kept that bedroom in a state of readiness.  
She clutched my shirt and kept on saying  
"Please don't leave me. Please don't leave me."  
I promised. Then she gave a sudden gasp of pain.  
"Ouch, my back, it feels something is pulling the skin, ouch!"  
I helped her to turn over, and discovered it must be a hospital gown she was wearing, since there was a laced up opening down the back. I unlaced it and looked at her back. There were two prominent bumps under her shoulder blades, red and swollen.  
By now, of course, I knew what she was. But why? Why here and not at Old Home? And how was I going to get help without leaving her? So this is this how haibane are born?  
At this point things got horrible. She was screaming in pain as the bumps on her back slowly deformed and got bigger, then, yuck, they burst out of her back and she screamed and fainted.  
I almost fainted at the sight of all of that blood and action. There were splatters of blood everywhere. And there were these wings, covered in gunk, twitching and spasming. And this strange girl, completely out of it.  
Also completely dependent on my help. I considered running to the Old Home, but it was mid morning, there might not be anyone there. Also it would take three quarters of an hour, plus time trying to find someone, and I had promised this girl not to leave her. I was stuck. I sat there for a while. Then it occurred to me that if this was a normal haibane birth, the haibane would have a standard procedure to follow. So what would a good haibane do at this point?  
Firstly, make sure she was comfortable and breathing normally.  
Blood and gunk everywhere. Clean up the room? But wait, her wings were filthy with the stuff. That was probably the place to start. How to clean up? Well, haibane are restricted in what they can own and use, so it can't be any special process or anything. I went to get a bowl of soapy water and a brush and some towels.  
And that is what I did; I spent the rest of the day cleaning her wings. I didn't have a clue if it was supposed to take this long, or be this difficult, since the wings kept jerking and spasming. But on the other hand it had to come off, so I assumed I was doing the right thing.  
I snuck out a few times to grab something to eat or drink. Eventually by dusk her wings were clean. I did a hurried cleanup of the room, turned on a bedside lamp, then slumped in my chair and dozed off.  
I woke with a start. The clock said 2:00. In the morning. There was a groan from the bed  
"Hello, I see you are awake."  
"What happened? I feel strange."  
"What has happened is that you now have a beautiful pair of charcoal coloured wings. Here, look in this hand mirror."  
She was showing less signs of terror now. She looked at her wings, and then looked at me.  
"I don't understand what's happening."  
I spent a few minutes explaining to her about Guri, and the role of haibane in it. Conscious of the limits of my knowledge, I also said she would be getting a more complete report later.  
At this point she suddenly went back to sleep.  
I regarded her hospital gown. It was torn and stained with blood, completely inadequate as regular clothing. I had never cleaned out my daughter's clothes, and she was about the same size, so I rummaged through and found a slip and underwear and a dress and some socks and shoes that this new girl might like. I then looked at her wings, and the back of the dress.  
"Hmmm"  
Which is why I spent the rest of the time until first light getting out my wife's sewing materials and modifying the dress to fit a pair of wings.  
OK, I will admit, the seams might have been crooked and the sewing uneven, but I'm sure the Old Home girls could fix it up when they got their hands on it.  
I went back to dozing on the chair.  
Midmorning. I was woken by sounds from the bed.  
"I feel a lot better now." she said, sitting up on the bed.  
I decided it was time to introduce myself "My name's Naoki."  
"And my name is ... is ... I can't remember who I am? I can't remember anything!"  
She was so distressed I sat on the bed next to her and held her.  
"That's all right. That is what all haibane go through on their first awakening. You're here for a new life, but unfortunately you can't remember your old one. "  
Except Big Ugly Sam, of course. But I decided to leave such complications till later.  
"But dad, who am I? You can be my dad, can't you?"  
It was at this point I committed myself. God knows what was going to happen because of this, but I committed to being her dad, or senpai. I committed myself to seeing her as another daughter, like the one I had lost and whose dress this one was wearing. And I committed to saying goodbye to her in a few short years when she had her Day of Flight. Like I had said goodbye to my wife, and my daughter. What the Renmei might think of this I didn't give a damn, not yet anyway.  
"Yes, I will be your dad."  
She clung to me.  
"Also, we need to know what to call you. Do you have any memories of your past life?"  
"Yes, Yes, I do. I remember lying down amongst lots of pretty flowers. In the background was the sound of a fountain."  
"Is that all you remember?"  
"Well, I have this vague sense of terror, but every time I try to remember why, it eludes me."  
"That's probably you being born from you cocoon and lying in a strange room, all alone." I said.  
"Hmmm, pretty flowers. You appear to be a gentle person, so perhaps gentle flowers?"  
She nodded.  
"So shall we make that Yasaka?"  
Click.  
We both agreed that that was definitely her name.

"OK, I will leave the room - no, only for a minute or two - and you can put on the clothes that my daughter left behind. See, I have modified the dress to fit your wings."  
It took longer; apparently getting twitchy wings into the wing slots at the back of a dress is an acquired skill. Eventually she opened the door and stepped out.  
We walked to my study and stood inside it, facing the window. She took my hand. We looked at each other.  
A pretty teenage girl, a little younger than my daughter when she had died. Charcoal wings. Dressed in my daughter's clothes. Who I now regarded has my daughter.  
I remembered something, and went to one of the drawers in my room, where I kept my wife's jewellery. I took out a green brooch  
"Here, pin this to the top of your dress, it will go well."  
She admired the brooch and pinned it to her dress.  
"Well". I said.  
"See those paintings. That one is of my wife, who died when my daughter was ten. The other one is my daughter, who died in an accident when she was sixteen. You're wearing her clothes."  
She looked at the paintings. "Your wife and daughter are beautiful."  
I blinked my eyes a few times.

Naoki finished his story.  
"After some more talking, and a meal, we set of for here."  
"So that's why her dress was familiar." said Sam.  
After some silence, Sam said  
"And then after a few short years she will have her Day of Flight and leave."  
"I know" said Naoki. "If I had a choice beforehand, I would have called for help, and she would have been introduced into the world by fellow haibane. And I would have never regretted the choice. But I didn't have the choice so I am committed to this young person now. And then I will lose her, and I won't regret what was foisted upon me, no matter how much it hurts."

By now it was late. Naoki, feeling tired, made his way back home. Yasaka had already been installed into the guest room bedroom, and was already sound asleep. Sam drifted off to sleep thinking  
"What will the Communicator think of this?"

* * *

The next day was Saturday. Hikari and Kana went off to work for the morning, Rakka went to the temple to get the halo mould, and everyone else was at home to keep Yasaka company. Naoki visited and stayed for lunch. When Hikari and Kana had returned they gathered in the guest room.  
"Yasaka, please sit here" said Rakka. She was holding the halo mould in one hand. She opened it and using tongs took out the glowing halo and presented it to Yasaka.  
"Fellow Haibane Yasaka, I present you this halo in the hope that it might be a guiding light to your future here." she said.  
The halo settled in place above Yasaka's head with a faint ringing tone.  
"It's still hot! So be careful for an hour or two."  
Yasaka tried to look up to see her very own halo. She looked proud of being accepted into the Old Home nest, and being just like the other haibane.  
"So that's how they obtain their halos" thought Naoki to himself.

Rakka had also brought a request from the Communicator, asking Mr Naoki, Yasaka and Big Ugly Sam to please visit the temple that afternoon, when Rakka went in for her normal work.

The day was fine as they set off. From the entrance of Old Home they could see the town site, hazy due to the summer heat. They turned away from it and climbed slightly upwards, towards the temple. On either side of them were pasture lands, green with grass. Ahead, in the distance, could be seen patches of forest, with the Wall visible between them. As they followed the path, Yasaka always held the hand of either Naoki or Sam, or both, making them wonder at her timidity. Nevertheless, she walked or skipped along happily, and stopped to ooh and ahh over any patches of flowers they came across. At one stage a local farmer drove past them in his tractor, towing a large cart of grass. He casually waved and hailed Naoki and Sam as he went pass. Yasaka had hid behind Sam until he had passed, then she resumed her walk. Rakka and Sam and Naoki exchanged glances at this, she was timid indeed.  
"Now, when we arrive at the temple's entrance, us haibane will be given bells for our wrists and wing elbow joints. The wrist bells we hold up and shake when greeting the Communicator, while the wing elbow bells are used for yes or no. The right side means yes and the left side means no. You need to remember that we are not allowed to talk unless the Communicator gives us permission." said Sam.  
At this, Naoki raised his eyebrows and looked at Sam.  
"So you go through this ritual every time you come here", placing a slight emphasis on the first 'you'.  
"Of a course, I can't disappoint Rakka and the other haibane, can I?" said Sam.  
Naoki nodded slightly at this and said  
"And what about me?"  
"Not sure about you" said Sam. "We shall have to see".  
"Now, Yasaka, can you twitch your left wing and your right wing independently?" sad Sam.  
After some practice, Yasaka managed to reliably twitch the wing of her choice.  
"Also" said Rakka, "Once inside the temple I will be going off to my work, leaving you with Sam and Naoki, but I'm sure that you will be all right."

There was more nervousness at the entrance. Yasaka visibly shrank from the masked Renmei standing there, holding the bells in one hand. Sam and Naoki gently coaxed her to stand still while receiving her bells. To Naoki's relief, he was not required to wear any wrist bells. Walking through the temple grounds relaxed her; there were garden beds with herbs and bushes, other beds with flowers, and trees of many varieties forming a pleasant upper story. The tweeting of birds could be heard, with the occasional flash as a bird streaked past, chasing a moth. They advanced to the Communicators pagoda, where he sat writing.  
The two haibane lifted their wrists and jiggled the bells as greeting.  
"This is the new arrival Yasaka, and her companions Naoki and Big Ugly Sam. I am pleased to meet you. You may speak." he said.  
On seeing the elaborate mask that the Communicator was wearing, Yasaka tried to hide behind both Naoki and Sam simultaneously. But, since she was holding both of their hands, and they refused to budge, she was left stranded in the middle.  
The Communicator, seeing her distress, took pity on her. He stepped out from his bench, and knelt on the ground in front of her.  
Both Sam and Naoki followed suit, and knelt down.  
"Yes, I do look alarming, but I am here to look after you and the other haibane. I hope you can get used to me."  
The Communicator held out one hand. Yasaka looked from Sam to Naoki, both smiling. So she decided she could probably survive without holding Sam's hand, and reached out and gravely shook hands with the Communicator.  
"If, in future, you ever have problems, you are always welcome to visit me here to discuss them."  
"Now, haibane Yasaka, if I may, I would like to have a talk with Mr Naoki. If you and Sam could please wander around the gardens while I do so?"

Sam and Yasaka were sitting next to a water feature in the temple gardens. Water flowed into it from a small water course, and there were water lilies and frogs and some gold coloured fishes swimming around. It was next to a garden bed of red and white flowers.  
"This reminds me of my cocoon dream" said Yasaka. 'Also, the Communicator is scary, isn't he?"  
"Hmmm, he does take a bit of getting used to." said Sam.  
"Why does he have to wear that mask?"  
"I think it is because, while he and the others in the Renmei want to look after us haibane, he doesn't want us to become personally dependent upon him. You, and I, are supposed to depend on and bond with the other haibane in our nest and the other nests. The Communicator and the Renmei concentrate more on organisational problems, like managing the account books and dealing with trade with the Toga." said Sam.  
"Also dealing with disciplinary problems", Sam added, but only in his head.  
"I see, I think." said Yasaka.  
She looked back over the garden, where Naoki, sitting on a chair, appeared to be having an earnest conversation with the Communicator, who was back at his writing desk under the pagoda.  
"What are they talking about? I hope dad doesn't get into trouble for being the only human around who has found a cocoon."  
"No, I don't think he will get in trouble. However the Communicator is interested in what Naoki thinks about all of this, and how Naoki intends to deal with you in the future. Personally I am sure that there won't be any problems."  
Sam contemplated what might be the reason why Yasaka's cocoon was placed into Naoki's house.  
"I wonder if the Communicator will ban any future gatherings of haibane at his house?" he thought.

They rejoined and strolled back to Old Home.  
"Naoki, I would like to invite you to tea with us" said Sam.  
"In the meanwhile, Yasaka, would you like to visit the children while Naoki and I amble around the grounds, building up a suitable appetite?"  
"OK, I think the children are wonderful." she said.

They sat under one of the wind turbine pylons. The blades made a swooshing sound as each one passed by. Sam picked up a grass stalk and nibbled on it.  
"So, what was the Communicated after?"  
"Basically he wanted to know if I was going to do my best to look after Yasaka and encourage her to her Day of Flight. So I said yes. I explained how I realised that she would be leaving in a few years, but I knew there was no choice in this matter, and any grief I suffer will have to be."  
"Did he say anything about not having any more parties with us haibane at your place?"  
"No... Do you think that is how Yasaka's cocoon got delivered to my place instead of Old Home?"  
"I did, but if the Communicator is not concerned, well-" Sam shrugged his shoulders.  
They sat there for a while, as the shadows across the hills slowly lengthened.  
"Well, _dad_ , it's time for the evening meal." said Sam.  
"Let's hope things don't become any more complicated than what they are already." said Naoki, with a laugh.

* * *

The next day was Sunday morning. At the abandoned factory, the factory mob were having breakfast. It was a fine morning outside, the sun shone in through the dining room's window, highlighting the table, not to mention the dust motes in the air and the dirt that had been swept up to the sides of the room and left there.  
"So, what shall we do today? There is nothing urgent is there?" asked Michibi.  
"Well, we could clean up this room I guess, it looks filthy." said Ame, "or we could do something else, like go for a walk."  
No prizes for guessing which her preferred option was.  
"We're not the Stone Mill blokes. We could go for a walk along the river, see if there are any pretty girls having a swim." this from Mawa.  
Yuki and Ame swapped gazes, as if to say "Where did they find him?"  
"Stop going on about girls in bathing suits already!" said Yuki.  
"I want to see the new addition at Old Home" said Machi. "I hear her cocoon hatched in the house of a human, and she calls him dad."  
"That's right!" said Michibi, "That sounds unusual. How about it?"

They were going to rush out and go, but Michibi suggested  
"Maybe it is a good idea to pack lunch? We might has well do it properly and allow enough scope for spending the entire day out. And we wouldn't want to impose our appetites upon Old Home's larder, would we?"  
"With Sam eating there, they would never notice." said Ame.  
After some laughter, they made lunch and set off.

Kasai and Jika rushed into the guest room.  
"The factory haibane are paying us a visit!"  
"Well, I hope they don't expect us to supply them food for lunch." said Kana. "Now I have to put up with the company of Mawa." this last part was said with the expression normally reserved for stepping on cockroaches.

"Greetings. And yes, we have brought our own lunch." said Michibi, as they entered. As to be expected, Yasaka became a timid little mouse, holding Sam's hand. Rakka smiled reassuringly, but Ame and Yuki looked impatient. But at least they made an attempt to hide it. At last, with encouragement.  
"Hello Ame, Hello Yuki. I'm Yasaka."  
"Hello Yasaka."  
Greeting Machi, Michibi and Mawa was a different matter again. Kana looked as if she was going to join Ame and Yuki in losing her patience, but Sam and Rakka persevered.  
"Hello Machi, Hello Michibi."  
But no amount of coaxing managed to get her to say anything at all to Mawa.  
"Ahh! At least she has excellent taste." thought Kana to herself.  
"Maybe she has reached her limit for today." said Kana. Sam agreed  
"Yes, let's have lunch." said Sam.  
Sam was happy to leave things as they were. He kept remembering the horrible scream inducing pain as Mawa's hand landed on his chest.

Kana and Hikari were relieved that they had committed themselves to trekking over to Stone Mill for the afternoon. They made their apologies and left.  
"What is going to happen about Mawa?" asked Hikari as they walked along.  
"Dunno" said Kana.

Sam and Ame and Rakka had a short discussion and decided to take Yasaka for a walk in town tomorrow.

With nothing better to do, the factory mob wended their way home by following the river. Much to Ame's and Yuki's relief, there was no one bathing as they went by.

At the Stone Mill, Kana gave Hikari the rundown on the doughnut transport mechanism.  
"See, the whole thing, gears, sprockets, chain and motor, is a completely independent assembly that slips into the oil bath. That way it can be taken out and cleaned or repaired without any fuss."  
She has spent the last week or so making up the parts and assembling it.  
In the background, Mado and Tsuchi were watching attentively, without making too much of a point about it. Having had plenty of time during the week to inspect the partially made assembly, they were wondering at what stage Kana would realise she had made a small omission in her design.  
"We'll do a dry run, without any oil or dough. Now if you hold that end, we'll put the mechanism into the oil container"  
Kana fiddled around.  
"Right, I turn on the transport motor"  
Hummmmmmmmmm went the motor, the gears and sprockets turned over, the chains went around and around and the paddle in the middle flipped over in time with the chain. Hikari and Kana could well imagine the doughnuts being transported along, being flipped over in the middle, then at the end being dragged up, the excess oil draining back into the oil container, and the doughnut being flipped into the receiving bowl.  
Leaving the motor running, Kana dialed up three doughnuts on the dispenser and watched as it went through its motions.  
"Damn! Damn!" she said, "Stupid twit!"  
Mado and Tsuchi nodded to each other.  
"Who are you calling stupid?" said Hikari back. She glared at Kana. "I thought you were beyond that?"  
"Sorry, I was calling myself a stupid twit. I've realised I need to synchronise the dispenser with the transporting chain."  
"Huh?"  
"Look, see, if I dispense a single doughnut at the wrong time" she demonstrated, "It will fall on one of the separator bars, instead of between them."  
There was no actual doughnut, but they could both imagine it falling to the wrong position.  
"I'll work on it during the week and we can try again next weekend." said Kana.  
"What about all of this stuff that I've prepared?" said Hikari, looking in dismay at the big bowl of doughnut mixture.  
"Oh, no problems, we shall get the machine working and I will carefully dispense each doughnut individually." said Kana.

"Right, we have now made nine doughnuts, and there are six of you, wait a minute, where's the left over doughnuts?" said Hikari.  
The Stone Mill haibane managed to look totally innocent as they collectively said  
"No idea"  
"Well, there's more dough..." said Hikari.

* * *

By tacit agreement between the senior haibane, it was agreed that on Monday they would go to the bakery, picking up Ame on the way, say hello to Hikari and buy some goodies, then head home again. That should be a big enough day for Yasaka on her first trip to the town.

Ding ding went the front door bell at the bakery.  
One large middle aged male haibane followed by three petite teenage female haibane entered the shop. Getting there hadn't posed much problem, although Ame had to force herself to be understanding. Every time they passed a group of people, especially with males, Yasaka had stuck to Sam's side like a shadow. Ame marveled that neither Sam nor Rakka gave the slightest sign of any impatience or irritation. They were consistently kind and patient with Yasaka.  
"Why on Guri is this girl so scared of her own shadow?" she was thinking.  
Hikari skipped over.  
"Hello everyone! Mr Baker, this is our newest haibane! Her name is Yasaka, but she's extremely shy."  
"Hello Yasaka" said the baker.  
After the usual persuasion from Sam she managed a hello back, also a collective hello to the assistants.  
The baker felt sympathetic towards the timid new haibane, and directed Hikari to make up a food parcel of goodies, free of charge.

They were walking back to Old Home, Ame included. They had reached the first of the farming fields when they were passed by half a dozen young men on bicycles. Judging by the fishing rods and equipment, they were on their way to an afternoon of fishing in the river. There was a sudden burst of sound as they zoomed past, shouting to each other and several of them calling out in loud voices to Big Sam. Big Sam was well known by half the population of Guri by now.  
Sam saw Ame give a wave in return. Rakka jumped slightly and then keep going. Yasaka -  
Yasaka had stopped, frozen. There was a big water stain on her dress where she had wet herself. Her body was rigid and was slowly toppling over.  
"Oh sh-" said Sam.  
He moved fast, and caught her before she could hit the ground. Ignoring the fact the he was getting wet himself, he held her face up, being careful not to crush her wings, and elevated her feet and legs above her head.  
"Ame, Rakka, please come close and hug her, she's in shock"  
Rakka wrapped her arms around Yasaka and she and Sam cradled her.  
Ame said "Uck, she's wet herself!"  
"She's in shock. The consequences of shock can be very bad. If she doesn't get out of it soon, I'm going to have to carry her and run like hell to the nearest doctor." said Sam.  
Ame cradled Yasaka's head and joined in with the chorus of soothing words.  
Slowly Yasaka's body relaxed. She opened her eyes, clutched the front of Sam's overalls and said.  
"Please don't leave me." she was back to being terrified.  
"We won't"  
Yasaka's condition stabilised, Rakka picked up the bag of bakery goodies, and they continued on their way to Old Home, Sam carrying Yasaka.  
"I'm beginning to make a habit of carrying young ladies, aren't I" said Sam to himself.

Yasaka was made comfortable in her bed, and Jika and Kasai promised to take turns keeping her company for the rest of the afternoon. Rakka, Ame and Sam retired to the guest room veranda and had some bakery delights and tea.  
"You're still wet" said Ame, pointing to Sam's overalls.  
"I know, I'll survive."  
"What the hell is wrong with her? You mean she is going to go into some sort of life threatening shock condition every time a teenage male says boo?" said Ame, who was plainly getting fed up with this.  
"I think I might know why" said Sam. He put down is cup of tea, leant over with his elbows on the table and put his head on his hands.  
"You know how I came here with my memories intact? So I remembered carrying Suna. For reasons known only to itself, the Wall, or whatever, arranged it so that I was put in storage for a while, and then sent to be born here in time to see Suna off. It now appears that the Wall has arranged another coincidence."  
A short silence.  
"A couple of decades ago, that is in my life on Earth, I was assigned a case to manage. When I found out what was involved I had to pass the case on to someone else, I couldn't cope with it."  
A longer silence. Then, in a voice low enough that both girls had to lean forward to catch it, he continued  
"A mid teen girl was found dead."  
"In a park. She was found in the middle of a garden bed full of pretty flowers. A water fountain was nearby."  
"So that matches Yasaka's cocoon dream" said Rakka.  
"How did she die?" said Ame. She was getting a horrible sensation that she wasn't going to like the answer.  
"Oh, -, she was murdered".  
"There were multiple foot prints all around"

Sam's head had sunk to the table. His hands were wrapped over his head, under is halo. Rakka looked at him, and then with some hesitation, she sat next to him and patted his back. Ame decided that, yes, she didn't like the answer.  
Sigh, "Ok" said Ame, "Yasaka appears to have ample reason for her behavior. I won't be judgmental again."  
"This is terrible. What reason would anyone have to want to kill a little girl like that for?" said Rakka.  
Ame looked slightly surprised at this.  
"I don't know. Please don't tell Yasaka or the twins about this" said Sam.

Rakka went to look in on Yasaka. Sam left with Ame. He was accompanying her as far as the turnoff to Naoki's place.  
"It's much worse than what Rakka supposes, isn't it?" said Ame.  
"Yes it is. I am never going to say how."  
"Well, being one of the factory haibane, I'm sure I can imagine something bad. Not that I really want to." said Ame.  
"My dear Ame, from my point of view you and the factory haibane are slightly rowdier versions of the cute little Old Home haibane."  
Normally Ame would have bridled at such a comparison. But in the context of the current discussion, she had a depressing feeling that he might be right.  
In a small voice "Ok, I get it. Yasaka deserves my full sympathy, and I shall give it."  
After a while she added "But what about Mawa?"  
"Ahh, you have me there." said Sam.

Sam and Ame touched hands, then Ame kept walking to town and Sam turned off to Naoki's house.

Sam leant forward and softly said "Naoki, you shouldn't hold the edge of your desk so tightly, you might crush it."  
Naoki's knuckles were white from the pressure.  
"Oh, right. Here, I'll relax. Please pour me a glass of wine."  
Sam had been telling Naoki of today's happenings.  
"The parents of Yasaka in her original life must have gone through hell."  
"Yeah, they would have. Sometimes such parents never get out of it."  
Sam poured two glasses.

To her group Ame also described the day's events. Yuki, Machi and Michibi reacted with varying degrees of shock and horror. But Mawa:  
"Ha, how would you be to get in a situation like that?"  
"What did the boys do after that, I wonder?"  
Machi and Michibi looked at each other in puzzlement.  
Ame and Yuki left the room and walked until they were out of hearing range of the others. Then Ame turned to Yuki  
"You have a bigger bedroom than I do. Would it be possible for me to move my bed in and share the bedroom for the time being? I'm beginning to feel queasy about Mawa and the way he talks."  
"Please do, I'm beginning to feel the same. We need to think up some plausible excuse as to why."

The next day Naoki visited Old Home and spent the day with Yasaka.

On Saturday, the morning's schedule was carefully crafted so that the twins and Yasaka spent the morning with the children, without realising that there was a deliberate plan behind it. The other seniors, Hikari, Kana, Rakka and Sam, plus Naoki, sat in the guest room and had a conference.  
"I can only hope that she will grow out of her terrors." said Sam. He continued with  
"I think we should suggest to her that she gradually practices going out, with one of us and eventually without, making trips of increasing difficulty. The obvious first trips out would be to Naoki's house and back."  
The others could see nothing wrong with that. They set to planning the details.

Naoki returned home. After lunch it was suggested to Yasaka that she might like to visit Naoki, since Kana and Hikari and Sam were going to Stone Mill. They could pick her up on their way home.

At the Stone Mill.  
It was Kana's and Hikari's big day. Under the close direction of Kana, they assembled the full machine, turned on the oil heater, filled the hopper with doughnut mixture and waited for the thermostat to go click.  
With Sam and most of the Stone Mill haibane watching, Kana, with a certain amount of nervousness, dialed up a single doughnut.  
It popped out of the dispenser into the oil right between two separator bars. It was moved slowly along to the paddle, which flipped it over to do the other side. It kept moving and was then dragged up a moving rack, letting it drain the excess oil. Finally it flipped over the end and landed in the receiver bowl.  
The Sam, Stone Mill haibane, and Hikari, clapped enthusiastically. Kana, face turning reddish, took a bow. Hikari took the doughnut, rolled it into some icing sugar, carefully cut it into halves, and gave one to Kana.  
Together they ate the doughnut.  
"Nice" said Hikari.  
"Now we make a single doughnut for Sam!" said Kana.

They made more for the Stone Mill mob. After they had eaten slightly more than enough, Mado had an idea.  
"Why don't we get our resident artist to etch a stylized drawing of Kana's, Hikari's and Sam's heads onto the side of the oil container? Just to celebrate who made it."  
"Yes", "Good idea", "Like it"  
"Leave it here and we'll arrange it" said Tsuchi.

They left, taking a bag of doughnuts for their own nest. They returned to Naoki's house, and Sam, under the pretense that he wanted to talk to Naoki, stayed behind while Hikari and Kana accompanied Yasaka home.  
"Actually, Sam, I don't eat much in the way of sweet things" said Naoki when Sam tried to offer him some doughnuts.  
"Shame, looks like I'll have to eat them all myself."

* * *

On Monday the doughnut maker was installed at the bakery. No big deal was made of it. As far as the customers were concerned, it just appeared one day and they could buy fresh doughnuts. There was some interest in the three haibane faces etched on the side, but the people of Guri were used to haibane and also used to treating them with benign disinterest. The people most interested in the machine were the human children. They loved watching Hikari dial up six doughnuts and seeing them cook before their eyes, then seeing her cover them in the topping of their choice. Some of the parents didn't appreciate the constant begging from their children to buy doughnuts, but that's part of being a parent.

Yasaka was improving. Some days she would stay at Old Home and help the house mother in looking after the children. Other times she would walk in with just Kana or Hikari, and do basic chores at the clock tower or bakery until it was time to go home. She no longer looked as if she was going to faint at the sight of a bunch of rowdy teenage boys.

One morning Ame and Yuki and Machi and Michibi coordinated their schedules and turned up at the bakery. They were greeted by Yasaka, who was sweeping the floor in between the rush periods of breakfast and lunch.  
"Hello, nice to see you" she said to all four.  
"Well, that's a change" thought Ame to herself. "None of this shrinking when Machi or Michibi looks at her."  
"Hello Yasaka. We decided to buy some doughnuts from Hikari's machine!" said Michibi.  
"I can make them! Hikari has been teaching me." said Yasaka. Actually, all she did was check that the hopper had enough dough, then dial in four doughnuts.  
"What topping do you each want?"  
Eventually: "Here you are, Hikari will take your Renmei booklet pages"

On their way home:  
"Yasaka is improving immensely." said Yuki.  
"Still nervous, but. She apparently still doesn't walk to town and back by herself." said Machi.  
"Nonetheless, I think we should all appreciate her improvements." said Michibi.


	10. Chapter 9, Naoki

Two months passed.

Sam had been late at work and had only just got back in time for tea. He took off his outside shoes and coat and entered the guest room.  
"Huh? Why the sad looks?"  
Kasai and Jika were sitting at the table, looking upset. Rakka and Hikari were standing together in front of the table, looking solemn. Hikari was holding a box.  
"Is there anything wrong with Yasaka, or Kana, they're not here" said Sam with a slight trace of worry in his voice.  
"Kana is presumably working late, and Yasaka's fine" said Rakka, "She's walked over to Naoki's house."  
"What, by herself?"  
"Yes. You see, Naoki ... " she stopped, then caught her breath and said "He's got cancer. The doctor has given him six weeks to live."  
Vast silence.  
"Oh" said Sam.  
"In that case if you can please excuse me, I won't be eating tea here tonight."  
He turned to go outside, only to be halted by Hikari standing in front of him, holding out to him the box she was carrying.  
"Sam, I've made you a packed meal for you tea." She looked up at him.  
Sam briefly held her shoulders "Thank you" and took the box.

Sam was sitting in one of Naoki's arm chairs in his study. Facing him was Naoki in the other chair. Yasaka was kneeling on a pillow on the floor, leaning sideways against Naoki's legs.  
"Ironical, isn't it. I was so worried about both of you flying away and leaving me alone. Instead it's the opposite way around."  
They chatted about nothing in particular and eventually Sam got up to leave.  
"Don't worry about me" said Yasaka, "I'm staying here."  
"She's moving into my daughter's room. Which, after all, almost feels like home to her anyway."

Kana got back very late indeed, and at breakfast was dismayed to hear about Naoki. She regretted not being there when Sam had been given the sad news. So as compensation for this, she had the idea that they all have a meal at Old Home. Consequently, two days later Sam and Naoki and Yasaka walked up the hill, with Yasaka holding Naoki's hand and Sam on the other side of Naoki. Not holding his hand, of course, but nonetheless he was there.  
"Welcome, Naoki. I am so sorry to hear about your health, nevertheless I hope we can have an enjoyable meal together." said Rakka, as she invited Naoki in. She took his arm and escorted him to the guest of honour's chair at the end of the table.  
Kasai and Jika were excitedly running around, they had made up the table with their best plates and cutlery (which were almost the same as their normal cutlery) and had put on a table cloth and napkins and made up some big bunches of flowers in the middle. The flowers had been sent by an old friend of Naoki's, named Yoshe, who owned a flower shop.  
Kana, without grumbling for once, had assisted Hikari in the cooking. Hikari had done her best to provide an exceptional meal. The main course was lobster, ordered by Naoki and delivered directly to the Old Home. Where the lobster came from no one even thought about inquiring.  
Sam and Yasaka sat either side of Naoki and were forbidden by Rakka from doing any work.

"No, no more food please, I was never a big eater" said Naoki, wiping his mouth with a napkin. "Perhaps Sam might want some more?"  
Kasai looked at Sam with hesitation.  
"I think Sam has had enough of the good food" said Rakka. "We'll save some for the children."  
"Shame" said Sam.  
"Now let us drink a toast to friendship!" said Rakka.  
Hikari got down the bottle that Naoki had donated, and everyone had a drink. A small drink in the case of Kasai and Jika.

Naoki needed a small amount of help getting home again, discreetly given by Sam. Sam started visiting every morning and having a meal with Naoki and Yasaka every evening.

Over the course of the next few weeks various business acquaintances and family friends and a couple of old personal friends visited Naoki during the day.

He reminisced with his friend Yoshe.  
"Sorry I didn't get to see you much after my wife's death."  
"That's fine."  
"Long time since out last dance."  
"Yes it is. Which reminds me, did you hear about..."

A week later Naoki was getting wobbly on his feet. Yasaka held his arm and gently guided him into his armchair. He plonked himself down heavily.  
"I'm getting weaker."  
"It's all right, dad. Would you like Sam to get you your evening glass of wine?"  
"Make the most of it while I can? Certainly. At least I don't have to worry about restocking my cellar."  
"Here you are" said Sam, also pouring himself one. Yasaka was sticking to water.  
They clinked glasses.  
"What should the toast be?" said Naoki.  
"Well, let's toast to your daughter's future." said Sam.  
Yasaka blushed slightly as they toasted her future success as a haibane.  
"You know, Naoki, this is good wine. I'm glad I have an excuse to drink it every evening." said Sam.  
"Be my guest!" said Naoki.

A week or so later the nurse was visiting every day in the evening now.  
"Ok, Mr Naoki, we'll move you to these tablets. They are stronger pain killers. Yasaka, please make sure he takes one every four hours." said the nurse.  
After the nurse had left, Naoki moved, with a struggle, to the sofa. Yasaka sat next to him, with one arm around him, the other arm holding a novel she had found in her bedroom, a novel that would have been read by his previous daughter.  
"And the prince took the girl back to his kingdom and married her. They lived in his mountain castle and they were king and queen of the country. They lived happily ever after." she finished the story. She enjoyed the story more than they did. Naoki just enjoyed her company.  
Sam wondered what on Guri they thought a mountain, or a castle, or a king or a queen was. They certainly didn't have any here.

A few days later Naoki was in bed. He was propped up by a lot of pillows. Yasaka sat on the bed next to him, swinging her legs while Sam sat in a chair close by. They had been listening to the evening radio concert. When it had finished Naoki asked:  
"How's your little writing project going, Sam?"  
"As far as the writing goes, not too bad." Sam replied. "However I am beginning to realise that my goal of making it easier for future haibane to avoid the issues involved with unexpected Day of Flights is problematical."  
"Hmm?"  
"See, a nice young haibane, like Yasaka, is hatched. She lives here in Guri for, say, five years, learns what she has to learn, then flies away."  
Yasaka had stopped swinging her legs, she was concentrating on what Sam was saying.  
"She, or us, must form strong bonds of companionship and friendship with the other haibane. We depend on each other to survive, it's the way the system is setup."  
"But maybe half of those people will abruptly go. Just like that. Reki was totally dependent on Kuramori, and then Kuramori disappeared."  
"I think it would have helped Reki if she had known more. But would it have helped much? Probably not. She was still left by herself, with only Nemu for company. And Nemu had her own problems. Although knowing more would have averted the Wall climbing fiasco."  
"And perhaps in some cases it is best if the departing haibane goes without warning. It's going to hurt one way or another, might as well get it over in one go."  
"And what's more, it is apparently all so random. What if Rakka hadn't been hatched at the time she was? Reki wouldn't have been saved."  
"Unless, of course, the Powers-that-be carefully construct and guide everything to have just the right effect. But in that case where is the free will? Why should anyone fail at all in that case?"  
"So, I suppose what I am writing will be of use, but my dreams of it making a big change for the better I can now see were optimistic."  
Sam finished speaking and there was silence for a while.  
"Well, you certainly have given Yasaka something to think about." said Naoki.

Another week passed. They were playing Fish, a card game for children. Fortunately neither Sam nor Naoki had ever played much cards in their lives, so Fish was acceptable.  
Yasaka tallied up the scores,  
"That's six to me, five to dad, and only one to Sam."  
Sam ruefully looked at the cards and said: "I'm not very good that this, am I?"  
"No, you're not. What Hikari and Kana say must be true after all." said Yasaka  
"And what do they say?" said Sam.  
"Oh, nothing."  
"Hmm, it wouldn't be something like 'I'm stupid' would it?"  
"How did you ever guess?"

Three or four days later, Naoki graduated to requiring a full time nurse. He was on pain killer injected every four hours or so.  
It was the afternoon, no one else except the nurse and Yasaka were there for Naoki. Naoki was sleeping and the nurse was checking Naoki's chart and getting ready for the next pain killer:  
"Oh dear, this vial is broken, I can't use it. The next lot will be delivered this evening when the doctor goes pass. Yasaka, can you walk as fast as possible into town, and take this note, and deliver it to the pharmacist? She'll give you some more pain killer to bring back here."  
Gulp. Walk into town by herself? Go to a strange place called a pharmacy and have to deal with the strangers there?  
Yasaka looked at Naoki. Still sleeping, but with the starting trace of a frown line above his eyes. Was that the pain starting to break through?  
"Sure. Could you write down the details of where the pharmacy is, I've never been to the town before."

It started easy enough. She walked out the front door, down the track to the turnoff, and then turned towards the town. She passed the windmills and walked along the river for a while. Two human girls on bicycles went past.  
"This isn't too bad, is it?"  
Then three young men swooshed pass. It was the peak hour traffic rush in Guri, when everybody was going home after a day's work.  
"Keep walking, dad needs his medicine."  
Now she was getting to the more crowded parts of the town. People in clumps going home, cyclists weaving in and out of the pedestrians, service vehicles being returned to their depots. She concentrated on her task.  
"Turn right at the junction." she said, repeating her instructions.  
There were more people now. Just as she was about to cross in front of the gate to a factory, its siren went off. Immediately a dozen young men, whooping with glee at the end of the day's work, stampeded out the gate. Yasaka froze at the gate as they rushed by, totally ignoring her.  
"Deep breath. Remember dad. Deep breath."  
She continued. How many more of these trials was she going to have to endure? And wasn't time passing. Maybe dad had already woken up and was in pain?  
She eventually reached the point where she had to admit she was lost. Now, perversely, there was no one around, except for a solitary teenage boy sitting on a garden fence. Nothing for it but:  
"Ex - excuse me, C-C-Can you show me the way to the pharmacy?"  
This boy was waiting for his girl friend, his first, to appear from the house. They were going to a musical event. So he was impatient with this request, but his mother had instilled into him firm guidelines about being polite and helpful. Especially towards haibane.  
"You're in the wrong street. Here, follow me and I can get you straight there."  
He promptly raced across the street and up a narrow path way between two.  
He turned around "It's this way!"  
Legs beginning to tremble, she trotted after him.  
"We can take a short cut through Tanaka's back yard."  
He opened a gate, waited for her, then walked across a private back yard, then out another gate.  
"Come on! I'm in a hurry!"  
By now Yasaka was trembling all over. She forced herself to visualise Naoki lying in bed and waking up, in pain, needing more pain killer. She hurried up. Though the second gate.  
And she was back onto a street.  
"There it is, diagonally across the road" said the boy, pointing. He promptly disappeared the way they had come.  
"Well, I'm here now, can't get any worse."  
Naturally it did get worse. Guri must have been out for poor little Yasaka that afternoon.  
Yasaka pushed open the door and entered the shop. Only to be confronted by a young man, obviously drunk. His face was red, his hair was unkempt, and his clothes looked as if he had been dragged through the grass, backward. His voice was loud and his movements jerky.  
"Pharmacist! Want something to kill this terrible hangover!"  
"Oooh look, a little haibane. Have you come to bless me?"  
"Never mind him" said the pharmacist from behind the counter, "He's being a pain. Please come over here so I can take your order."  
Yasaka continued to look at the drunk in the way that a timid mouse might look at a cat looming over her. She couldn't move. Fortunately, just then, another customer arrived. A middle aged woman, with smile lines across her face. She smiled at Yasaka and then looked at the drunk.  
"Oh dear." She looked as if she had unexpectedly bitten into a sour lemon. "Really, you are upsetting this nice young lady."  
With the lady standing guard, Yasaka had the confidence to hand over the nurse's note to the pharmacist.  
"Right, so you're the haibane looking after Naoki! Pleased to meet you. Just a jiffy..." She disappeared into the back room.  
After a jiffy, she reappeared, with a parcel.  
"There you are"  
"So you need to go back to Naoki's place, do you", said the lady. "That's the one near to the Old Home buildings, isn't it?"  
"Yes"  
"I think I can help you there. My son just dropped me off here; he's in his truck outside.  
Guri was offering up one last challenge.  
Thinking about the package in her hand and the need to get it back as soon as possible, Yasaka overrode her feelings of trepidation.  
"Thank you very much."  
The lady followed her outside and hailed the driver of the truck.  
"Hey, Tadashi, this lady wants to get some medicine back to Mr Naoki, so be a good boy and drop her off on your way past."  
"Rightio, mum."  
He leant across and opened the passenger front door.  
"Hop in!"  
Only now did Yasaka realise that there were two other males in the vehicle, in the back seat. But the lady was so nice looking; surely she wouldn't be leading her into any trouble?  
She got in.  
"Hang on" said the driver. He dropped the clutch and the truck lurched forward with a bang.  
"It's not the best truck there is, but we don't get much choice here in Guri!"  
Yasaka clutched her parcel in front of her, and concentrated in breathing nice deep regular breaths. Thankfully the driver, nor the passengers, made any further conversational attempts. Perhaps they noticed that she seemed somewhat anxious?  
After an interminable time, going along roads that she did not recognise, the truck, with a few more bangs, braked to a halt.  
"Here you are. May you bless us all one day!"  
They were back at the front of Naoki's house.  
Yasaka climbed out. She turned and bowed deeply to the driver and passengers.  
"Thank you very much"  
And with a cheery wave, the driver got the truck moving again and, with no more than a few bangs and clashed gears, they disappeared down the track.

"Ah, you're back again. You made good time! Mr Naoki is starting to wake up now. Did you have any problems?" said the nurse, as she received the parcel.  
"No, no problems" replied Yasaka.

The next day Ame was at her work place, Guri's only salvage yard. She was counting second hand tiles:  
2211, 2212, 2213, 2214, 2215, 2216, 2217, 2218, 2219, 2220  
She heard a truck parking behind her, so she wrote down her count and turned around.  
"Hello Tadashi. Want more of those red tiles?" she said.  
"Sure do. Say, guess what, I drove one of your friends back from the pharmacy to Mr Naoki's house last night!" said Tadashi.  
"Surely you can't mean Yasaka?"  
"Don't know her name, but she's the one looking after Naoki. Looked like she was a timid little mouse afraid that I might bite her!"  
"Amazing." said Ame.

Ame was walking home after work.  
"Little scaredy-cat Yasaka made it into town all by herself, then got a ride back in Tadashi's rust bucket? Presumably she forced herself to because she had to get the medicine for Naoki."  
Ame was impressed.

The next day Hikari delivered a parcel to Yasaka. It was a cake baked by Ame, with the message:  
"Good work travelling to town and back by yourself."  
Yasaka was simultaneously pleased and embarrassed.

Four days later, Naoki was now bedridden. He also started to get things wrong.  
"Ahh, Akiko, could you get your mother please" he said to Yasaka as he was struggling to eat his meal.  
"Dad, err, mum is busy now." she replied. Akiko was the name of his biological daughter.  
But he had already forgotten what he was asking for.

Another time Sam was sitting with Naoki and Yasaka had come in through the door.  
"Why, it's Mizu. It's been so long since we last danced. Have you met my daughter Yasaka, she's also a haibane."  
Yasaka looked at Sam in puzzlement. He shrugged his shoulders.

Sam took leave of absence from his work, and moved into one of the spare bedrooms.

A week later Naoki was no longer talking. There were now two nurses on full time duty, both living on site. Fortunately there were plenty of spare bedrooms to go around. Yasaka didn't do much talking either. She sat on a chair next to Naoki's bed. Sometimes she held his hand, and sometimes not. Since Naoki no longer made much response to her touch, she was unsure of what was the best to do. She was steadily reading her way through the books in Naoki's daughter's book case. Sam now sat next to Yasaka. He figured that Naoki was beyond his reach, so he might as well look after Yasaka instead.

Three days later Naoki's breathing was laboured and produced rattling noises. Sam and Yasaka sat next to each other; Yasaka was holding Sam's hand. There didn't seem much point in holding Naoki's hand now. The two nurses were sitting behind them, waiting. Naoki breathed and gasped and breathed and coughed and then was still.

One of the nurses checked Naoki and then looked at Yasaka.  
"Sorry miss, he has passed on."  
Yasaka looked at her hands in her lap and said nothing. Sam asked:  
"Do you want to stay here, or go to your room at Old Home?"  
In a soft voice she said "Old Home". She looked small and frail and desolated.  
Sam carefully picked her up and carried her back to their home.

It was now night time. It was still summer, so the air was cool but not cold. The skies were clear and a thin crescent moon lit the way. The sound of Sam's shoes crunching on the gravel of the path, plus the wind softly blowing the leaves around, were the only sounds along the way. Yasaka huddled in Sam's arms, she had her eyes closed, blotting out reality.  
Sam thought to himself that he was making a habit of carrying distressed girls.  
He carried Yasaka into the guest room, where, fortunately, Rakka and Hikari were present, doing some sewing. They looked up and waited.  
"Naoki has passed away. I'll carry her to her room; perhaps you can come along and look after her?"  
Rakka slept the night in Yasaka's room, on a bed roll on the floor.

The funeral was in two days time, at his house and he was buried in the small cemetery behind the house. The same cemetery that his parents, and his wife and his daughter, were buried. A small handful of town people turned up, including Yoshe, as well as all of the older haibane from Old Home, and Ame and Mado.

* * *

Three days later Yasaka and Sam made their first pilgrimage to Naoki's grave. They walked hand in hand, but she no longer stuck to his side whenever strangers passed them on the road. Yasaka had picked a bunch of flowers earlier in the day. When they reached the cemetery they cleaned out the old and wilting flowers from the vases, and put in the new ones. They knelt by the grave for a while. Sam looked at Yasaka's face, and then pulled out yet another brand new clean hanky.  
"Here, use this. Looks like the old one can't take any more." said Sam.  
Sniffle "Thanks" said Yasaka.  
They got up to leave. Yasaka looked at Sam. He was sad looking, but no trace of tears. In the back of her head she made a little note to talk to the other girls about this, after she had gotten over the worse of her own emotions.

Thereafter she went to the grave three or four times a week. Sometimes alone, it no longer seemed all that difficult to walk to Naoki's old house and back again. And sometimes Sam accompanied her.

Two weeks later at breakfast one morning.  
"Hikari, can I walk in with you to the bakery, the house mother wants me to buy some doughnuts for the children's morning tea. I'll walk back by myself." said Yasaka.  
Hikari raised her eyebrows slightly. "Certainly".  
It was still summer, the walk into town was pleasant. They passed the wind turbines ponderously turning, casting their rotating shadows onto the fields of pasture. The occasional humans could be seen driving tractors across the landscape, or herding sheep from one paddock to another. The river splashed its way downstream, and if you looked carefully enough you could see the occasional flash of colour from a fish, darting between the reeds.  
"I'm glad you are getting more comfortable in your new life" said Hikari.  
"So am I. It feels that the vague terror I felt on first arrival is fading out. Mind you I don't understand why I feel that way." said Yasaka.  
Hikari had heard a bit about this from Sam and Rakka. She kept quiet.  
"Say, Hikari, do you mind if I ask you a few questions about Sam?"  
"Of a course you may"  
"Sam is really nice, and he feels almost as deeply about Naoki's death as I do, but he never shows even a single tear. Although he is very attentive towards mine, he even carries spare hankies just in case."  
Hikari giggled. "Oh, you have noticed that. So have we. It's our suspicion that he is so affected by the image of a tough macho man that he never properly grieved for the death of his original girlfriend. We don't think he ever shed a tear. We don't think he ever really recovered either. Not that he has ever said anything to that effect, this is just our interpretation."  
"It's really sad to think about what he must have gone through back then." added Hikari.  
"I know." said Yasaka.

Three weeks pass.

Yasaka had introducing reading nights to the older haibane of Old Home. Once a week she would select a story from the books she had taken from Naoki's daughter's book case, and read it out. Kasai and Jika loved it. Rakka and Hikari found it amusing and enjoyed the stories. Kana also enjoyed most of the stories, but she pretended to be somewhat indifferent. And Sam, well he never was much of a one for light fiction. However he really appreciated the slow opening out of Yasaka's personality, so he made himself enjoy the evenings. Besides which, the story telling nights were a nice way to spend with one's companions.

"And the evil sorceress was banished from the kingdom and they lived happily ever after. The End."  
Yasaka finished the story. Kasai and Jika clapped, and then Rakka told them to make their way to bed.  
The not-quite-adults, with Sam listening in, had a short discussion about replenishing food supplies, and whether or not to arrange an outing for the children next Sunday.

"Oh, ah, Sam, since you alone out of us haibane can actually remember their past, can I ask a question about it?" asked Yasaka.  
"I'll do my best to answer"  
"You know how I am affected by dad's death; you're even kind enough to provide extra handkerchiefs?"  
Yasaka, with the expression of a shy person at the ball, asking someone for a dance for the first time, continued with  
"Well, I'm just wondering, err; did you ever shed tears over your girlfriend's death?"  
Blink.  
"There's no need to ask that question. Good night everyone, good night Yasaka" said Sam, but gently. And he was off.  
"Humph" said Yasaka.  
"Good try, but it's not going to be that easy" said Kana.  
"So how am I going to get him to answer it?" said Yasaka.  
"Speaking from experience, I'm not sure it's possible" said Hikari.  
Yasaka stamped her foot. "Well, I've decided I'm going to get an answer!"  
"Hmm, this must be the original, non-terrorised, Yasaka showing through" thought Kana, "I like it."

A fortnight later, they were winding up another not-quite-adults planning session.  
Rakka reached out to pick up something, and knocked a litre container of milk on to the floor. Fortunately it was mostly empty.  
"Oh dear" she said.  
"What's the saying, don't shed tears over spilt milk?" said Hikari.  
"Perhaps in this case 1 litre of tears" said Rakka.  
"I've certainly shed a litre or three, but over things a lot more important than spilt milk", said Yasaka.  
"Me too" said Rakka.  
"When I first came here, I found things very tough..." said Hikari.  
"I don't know about 1 litre, but ... Kuu and Kage ..." said Kana.  
As if on the same circuit, their heads simultaneously swivelled to look at Sam.  
"I'm still interested in hearing an answer to my question..." said Yasaka.  
"Sorry, I'm going to bed now. Good night girls, thanks for the evening, sleep well." and Sam left.  
"One day I'm going to grab him by the lapels of his outsized ugly overalls and shake him until he answers!" said Yasaka.  
Kana clapped. "I would really like to see that, unfortunately you might notice he is a lot bigger than us and he is stronger than all of us combined."  
An image popped into Yasaka's head. "Hmm, I wonder if something like that would work?"

A month later, at the end of another evening meal.

"Oh Sam", said Yasaka, "See the button hole on the shirt pocket flap of your overalls?"  
"Yeah, what about it?"  
Yasaka reached out, put her little finger through it and clenched her fist.  
"Now Sam, if you try to move, since you are so strong, you will just end up breaking my finger, no?"  
"What!?" said Sam.  
Sam reached out with his hand and wrapped it around hers. Not to try to disengage it, but to prevent any accidental movements.  
"What are you doing?" said Sam.  
"I'm still waiting for an answer to my question: Did you shed tears at Tatiana's funeral?"  
"You can't do this! Use my strength against me!"  
He glared at Yasaka. She looked back.  
"Am I in a staring contest with -" started Sam, inside his head. He was going to continue with the phrase "a little girl", but he could feel other voices in his head ready to stomp on him if he did.  
"with a young lady?"  
He looked away. "Yes he was, and he just lost" he said to himself.  
"Rakka, please tell Yasaka to stop this business now!"  
"It's not up to me" said Rakka, "Although I find it quite ingenious. It would only work in special cases, mind you."  
Kana was smiling, Hikari looked very interested. No help there.  
He looked back into Yasaka's eyes. This must be what Yasaka was like before she came to Guri. Strong, and very determined.  
Yasaka looked at him.  
Sigh. OK, she deserves an answer. It's not as if it would kill him.  
"No, I never cried, not once."  
Yasaka carefully released her hold, gave Sam a hug and left. Rakka stood in front of Sam, bowed, said thank you, and also left.  
Hikari hugged him, Kana squeezed his hand, and they left.  
Sam was left alone. After a while he also went to bed.

A couple of days later Yasaka and Sam walked down the hill to Naoki's grave. They replaced the blown flowers with new ones, and knelt in silence. After a while Yasaka looked at Sam's face. She took a clean hanky from her pocket, which she had made a special effort to remember to bring, and gently wiped Sam's cheeks.  
"Here, you can keep this; it's one of yours which I have washed"

Later on, with the girls.  
"Yes, he has now shed tears for Naoki. But I don't think he is any near starting on tears for Tatiana. And it's beyond my power to do anything about that."


	11. Chapter 10, Mawa

A month passed.

The abandoned factory was large. Not as large as the complete collection of buildings at Old Home, but it was certainly large enough for less than a dozen occupants. The Haibane lived in the first two or three stories in one wing of the factory. Beyond this habitable zone there were empty rooms and storage areas, large spaces that would have once contained working machinery, voids, open spaces where tanks and furnaces once sat, and girders spanning ten metre drops. There were whole floors in the other wing that were open plan, and open at the sides, no safety rails or guides. But throughout the structure there were signs of colonization by the haibane. Ladders had been built and tied to girders to provide easy access. Lengths of pipe and wood were lashed to upright beams to act as safety rails. Sheets of corrugated steel were screwed down over the original roof cladding to block holes and leaks.  
Most of the machinery may have been long removed, leaving an open net work of steel girders, but most of the original enclosed offices remained. Apart from the main living quarters, there were isolated rooms, mostly portable huts that had been placed at seemingly random places through the structure. One of these was placed at the top of the uninhabited wing, jutting out from the wall, giving a panoramic view of the surrounding district. Which was mostly more factories, but since the abandoned factory was the highest, there were also views of the town site, the Wall as it curved around the town, and limited views of the farming districts.  
The factory haibane called it the Retreat. There were several routes to the Retreat from the living quarters, but they were all longish hikes to make. Accordingly the factory haibane had instigated a procedure for reserving the Retreat. If somebody wanted to have some solitude, they wrote their name on a special blackboard in the dining room, and the approximate times they were going to be there. It was understood that if someone else had reserved the Retreat, and you had not been invited, then it was considered bad manners to gate crash them.

On this day, Ame had reserved the room. She was sitting on the sofa (second-hand, of course, with stuffing falling out and three generations of patches), contemplating the climb of the sun upwards in the pale green sky and the shadows shortening in the view before her, as she did sewing repairs on some of her clothes. She was rightly pissed off when there was the clatter of feet on the steps outside the Retreat. Mawa barged into the room.  
"Great, her least favourite haibane. Even Yasaka would be a joy to be with compared to him." thought Ame to herself.  
"I've reserved the room! Can't you leave me alone?" she said out loud.  
"Oh don't be like that, can't you be friendly for once" he said, sitting down right next to her.  
She felt the first twinge of panic.  
"I want to be left alone!" she said, starting to shout.  
"Why are you so standoffish?" said Mawa. He placed his hand on her stomach, pushing her back into the sofa.  
She channelled her fear. She shoved his hand sideways while turning her body out from under his hand, and then slapped him across the face while standing up and moving back.  
Up until now he had been acting sort of normally. Normal for Mawa that is. Maybe more extreme than she had ever seen him before, but still sort of normal. When she hit him, it was as if the slap had ripped off a mask. There were no longer any signs of any smile or pleasantness, or any emotions at all. The image that formed in Ame's head was that of a predator; eyeing its prey and calculating what move to make next. She suddenly realised that he had several coils of rope attached to his belt. As he moved between her and the door, he took off the two coils and started to wrap the rope from the smallest coil around the door handle and a nearby hook on the wall. Preventing the door from opening. He kept glancing between tying the knots and Ame, tracking her position.  
"What are you doing?" she tried to shout, but it came out as a whisper. He totally ignored what she was saying and kept on securing the door.  
At this point she whipped around, opened the window and stepped out.  
There was a sudden shout from inside, but she had more important things to think about.  
She was standing on her toes on a narrow ledge along the base of the room's exterior wall. Since the window side of the hut overhung the wall of the factory, all that she could see below her was the concrete pad of the ground floor of the building, fifteen metres below. Fortunately she had once been at a social gathering here and Hyouko and some of the other boys had looked out the window and discussed this very matter; how to escape from the Retreat via the window. So she knew that there were handholds going along the side. She hurriedly moved sideways a metre or more. At this point Mawa put his head out and shouted  
"Come back here!"  
Ame looked at his face and decided that risking a fifteen metre drop would be safer than going back to that. She continued shuffling along as fast as possible, gripping each handhold in turn. And then one handhold twisted in her hand and snapped off. She frantically reached back with her other hand and managed to grab the previous handhold. Mawa had withdrawn his head and must be heading for the door. So she leant across as far as possible, let go of the old handhold and lunged for the next one. It didn't give, thankfully. She kept going until the corner and was relieved to see that the ledge and the handholds continued around the side. A few seconds later she was back over the wall of the factory. She reached over, grabbed the railing of the short staircase leading to the room, and heaved herself over onto the stairs. Audible from inside was someone swearing and shaking the door. No doubt he was racing to untie the door knob which he had so thoroughly tied himself moments before. With an adrenaline powered burst of speed, she scrambled as fast has she could back down through the floors and to the living quarters.

An hour later she was back, this time with Yuki, Machi and Michibi. They looked at the evidence. One medium coil of rope. One small length of rope that had once been tied to the door knob and the hook now cut into pieces. One small knife, dropped onto the ground. They stuck their heads out of the window to view the missing handhold.  
Michibi prodded the knife with his foot.  
"Yep, that's his knife; he always carried it with him. Remember him using it to cut open cardboard boxes? I suppose he dropped it in his hurry to chase after Ame, then decided he wouldn't bother to come back for it when he realised she had too much of a head start."

"Where is he now?" said Yuki.  
"I don't know, but until I do, I'm not leaving you lot!" said Ame. In fact if they tried to leave her they would have to use a tyre lever to prise her hands from their arms.  
"But how do we find out where he is? He might be in the kitchen, or halfway across Guri and into the farming districts." said Machi.  
"Or he might stop at Old Home. Remember that Big Sam isn't always there." said Michibi.  
Silence as they thought about the implications.  
"I hate to say this, but we are going to have to all go to the temple. This is beyond our control. That old man does have some uses." said Michibi.  
They argued about it for a while, but without much energy. Offloading the problem to the Communicator was their only option. They went back to the kitchen in a close group, made themselves a packed lunch, and set off for the temple.

They trudged their way towards the template, with a remarkable lack of energy or enthusiasm. The aftermath of the Hyouko wall climbing incident was still reverberating after seven years. None of the factory haibane felt the high regard for the Communicator that most of the Old Home haibane did. Give another haibane generation and relations will no doubt revert back to normal. As they were crossing the suspension bridge Yuki looked back and saw, in the distance where the vehicular track terminated and the walking track to the temple started, a vehicle stop and some people get out.  
"Hey! That looks like the watch's van and two watchmen coming to the temple" she said.  
"Yes. But we are first, so they will just have to wait." said Michibi.

At the temple entrance one of the Renmei waited, with the bracelet and wing bells in his hand.  
"Do we have to? We not here for a social call, we're here because of some really unpleasant events that are going on." said Michibi. None of the males liked the little bells rituals, although the Stone Mill males put on a better face about it all.  
The Renmei read their body language and decided to consult with the Communicator. He came back and gestured them in. They followed and stopped in front of the Communicators pagoda.  
"I grant you permission to speak"  
The three others looked at Ame. She calmed her nerves and recounted the story.  
The Communicator thought about it and said  
"What is your biggest concern right now about this?"  
"I'm worried about the safety of us and the safety of the girls at Old Home." said Ame.

At this point the Communicator was interrupted by the front entrance Renmei. After a bit of sign language the Communicator apologised and made his way to the entrance.  
"Weren't we first?" said Ame. "Aren't we important enough to ask some watchmen to wait?" She was beginning to fume.  
"Actually, I've been thinking about this, perhaps those watchmen are connected with our problems? said Machi.  
"Oh"

The Communicator returned.  
"Things have become even more serious. Mawa has been arrested and is currently detained at the watch house. He tried to assault a human girl, but fortunately her brother was within hearing range."  
Hearing this, the four haibane moved together until they were pressed against each other, as if to gain as much support from each other as possible. Things really had gone from very bad to even worse.  
"We are going to have to walk into town. The watch want to conduct a preliminary inquiry. I have requested that Tsuchi and Rakka and Sam also be called in, as representatives of the other two nests." said the Communicator.

About an hour or so later they were in the court house, which was in the same group of buildings as the watch house. Tsuchi and Rakka and Sam were also present, along with the Communicator.  
"Now, this might be irregular, but Mawa, who insists he is innocent, says he should be allowed to present his side of the story to all of us. Is this agreeable?" Nobody was willing to make any dissent, so Mawa was brought in.  
He looked relaxed and confident.  
"Good afternoon Communicator, Watch Captain. I will be happy to assist in these inquiries to the best of my capabilities."  
"I request that you tell us what happened this morning between you and Ame" said the Communicator.  
"I am sorry, I know it is not encouraged, but Ame and I had decided to have some private time together in the Retreat." he started.  
At this point Ame couldn't take it anymore. "I did not do any such thing! I think you are creepy and horrible!"  
Mawa looked pained, when Ame had run out of steam for the time being he continued  
"I suppose she must have reconsidered and is constructing this story to cover her actions." he said.  
Ame started screaming: "You despicable little " followed by a collection of swear words which gained the respect of the watchmen.  
Mawa looked around with a sad smile on his face, as if to say "See, she is obviously out of control and probably mentally unstable."  
At this point Sam, who had been concentrating on Mawa's production, said in a firm voice to Ame.  
"Ame, take a deep breath and try to regain control."  
Ame took a deep breath, then another.  
"Communicator, Watch Captain, I don't think this is working." said Sam. Could you please request that Mawa wait outside while we discuss things." said Sam.

"I would like to say that, based upon my knowledge of Ame's character, I believe her totally in this matter." said Sam.  
Ame relaxed at this affirmation.  
"So do I." said Tsuchi.  
"I cannot believe that Ame would act in the way that Mawa is saying she did." said Rakka.  
The Communicator spoke to the watch captain.  
"If I may, I request that you and I have a private discussion."

The haibane were left alone, with the two watchmen supervising, for an hour.

The Communicator and the watch captain came back. The captain spoke:  
"There doesn't appear to be any reason to keep this back, so I shall inform you that we are satisfied with the evidence against Mawa. There is not just the report of Ame and of the girl and her brother, but we have found out that in the struggle with the human girl Mawa left behind one of his main flight feathers. The Communicator has examined Mawa's wings and was able to show us where the missing feather came from."  
"By the way, I find his name to be a bit odd, does it come from Mawaru, as in to turn or revolve?"  
"Yes, that's right. It comes from his cocoon dream where all he could see was a strange blue sky, instead of the normal green, and a red ground, divided by a horizon line, turning around and around and somehow coming closer." said Ame.  
Sam had two sudden flashbacks. One was of walking across the red sand, holding Suna, looking at the horizon and the bright blue sky. The other was of Harrison, saying the pilot had run out of fuel and spun the aircraft into the ground.  
"But, that means he was the pilot that abandoned Suna and me to our deaths in the desert! It can't be a coincidence!"  
"Why that little " at this point Sam continued the watchmen's education in swearing. Since most of Sam's swear words were direct from Earth, there were some that neither the watchmen nor the abandoned factory haibane recognised. They did their best to memorise them.  
Sam continued: "He left us to die! Suna died because of that" more swear words "Some police officer had to go to her parents and tell them that their beloved daughter was dead!"  
In his rage he picked up a wooden chair and slammed it against the ground, snapping of the back of the chair.  
"I'm going to grab that " more swear words " and pound him into a bloody mess" he shouted, waving the back of the chair around. He started for the door. His face was red with fury, his fists clenched tight, he stomped as he walked. The watchmen, not being suicidal, retreated. So it was left to a slight teenage girl, who stepped in front of Sam and said, in a normal voice:  
"Please don't Sam. It will only make things worse" said Rakka.  
Sam cam to a halt. He slowly lowered the remains of the chair and let it go. It landed with a small clatter on the floor, easily audible in the silence. He stood there, looking downwards.  
Rakka took has hand and lead him back to his chair. She sat next to him and put her arm around his. Sam sagged and buried his head in his hands.  
The watchmen had been scared that Rakka would get hurt, and had tensed up and gotten their staffs ready when Rakka had stood in front of Sam. They were impressed at how well Rakka had managed Sam. The haibane had no such fears, but they were impressed nonetheless.  
"Perhaps you can go home now, we can contact you if we need to." said the watch captain.  
They all stood up. Rakka turned to Sam: "Maybe you could see your way to apologising?"  
Sam nodded, walked to the front and said.  
"Rakka suggested it, but I agree with her. I apologise for my outburst. I was distraught. I don't know what to do about the chair."  
"All things considered, it's fine." said the watch captain. "I'll speak to the Communicator about things later."  
The Communicator agreed, and the haibane were allowed to go home.

When the watchmen were alone, the captain said:  
"That was an education, wasn't it?"  
"I agree. You know, I wouldn't want to be the poor bloke that hurt one of Sam's girls." said one watchman.  
"No. We would have to write it up as suicide by Sam" said the other.  
"Fortunately nothing like that is likely to happen, is it?" said the captain.

By the time Rakka and Sam got back to Old Home, Sam was feeling the effects of emotional exhaustion. He made his excuses and went straight to his room. Rakka told the story to the others as they were having their evening meal.  
"That's horrible about Mawa trying to attack Ame and a human girl." said Hikari.  
"What's worse, if he had managed to attack the human girl, things could have become very strained between the haibane and the humans." said Kana.  
Everybody hoped that the two attempted victims were all right.  
"You know, I would have liked to have seen the expressions on the watchmen's faces as you stood in front of Sam. I bet they were terrified for you!" said Kana, after a while.  
"We all know that Sam would have never hurt Rakka." said Yasaka.

* * *

A week passed. At the watch house, there were seven watchmen on regular duties, plus the watch captain. They rotated their shifts on a regular basis, and most of the time there was only one watchman in charge of the cell block. Mawa listened to the bantering between the watchmen, and learnt that one had just returned from a couple of weeks holiday on the other side of Guri. He planned accordingly.  
"Hi there, I haven't seen you before, I'm Mawa" he said, with a friendly smile through the bars of his cell to the watchman checking up on him.  
"Greetings, I'm Yoshiaki. No, I've just spent a fortnight on my parent's farm." Of course Yoshiaki knew why Mawa was here, he had read in it in the duty roster sheets. However it only named the offense in dry official language. Yoshiaki had not yet heard any gossip from the others.  
"Did you go fishing?"  
"Actually, yes. It's one of my favourite activities to do with the old man, now that he is slowing down a bit."  
"That sounds like fun. I think I might have done that in my previous life, but of course I can't remember any details."  
"That must be tough". The watchman moved on to his other duties.

Somewhat later Yoshiaki delivered Mawa's breakfast. "Thanks, fried fish and tomatoes, looks good. Did you catch much fish during your holiday?"  
"Not all that much, what with dad tiring out too soon."  
"Cause I can't remember my own dad."  
"Now that I think is a cruel thing to do to you haibane, removing the memories of your parents."

After breakfast, Mawa noted that Yoshiaki was suddenly busy with three drunken youths. He waited for the appropriate moment and  
"Sorry to interrupt, but do you think I can use the toilet in the next cell, the one in this cell seems to have become blocked."  
The watchman was distracted, and the door to the outside was locked anyway, so  
"Sure" he unlocked the cell door. "Just get back when you have finished."  
Mawa went to the outside door and simply waited. Yoshiaki was extremely busy with one of the drunken louts, who was too drunk to be able to fight well, but not drunk enough to be incapacitated. Eventually Mawa had the good luck that someone, who was only clerical staff and not a watchman, opened the door from the outside. He ran through, down the corridor, out off the main entrance and was out of sight before the watchmen had time to react.

The factory haibane had finished breakfast and had mostly scattered to various parts of the factory. Michibi was still in the kitchen when he looked up and froze. Mawa had walked in. Mawa took a long knife from the kitchen bench, grabbed Michibi and said  
"You are going to provide some security for me. Come!"  
Michibi had looked at Mawa's face, and realised why Ame had been hysterically talking about predators watching their prey. Mawa held Michibi's arm and waved the knife in front of his face.  
"You will walk with me and act as naturally as possible."  
"But what's the point, you can't escape anyway. Stay in your cell until they banish you from Guri through the gate in the Wall. Then you will be gone out of our reach."  
"Stupid. I'm got a much better idea than that. It's quite obvious, really. Now get moving."

Being in Mawa's company and seeing the expression on his face was beginning to make Michibi feel sick. He would never have thought that simply being in someone's presence could have such a toxic effect. They were now outside Old Home, in one of the fields, sitting under a tree whose branches screened them from view. Mawa was trying to decide if it was safe to enter it when he had another stroke of luck. One of the Stone Mill trucks left the entrance, carefully negotiated the narrow pathway down over the bridge and rattled away towards Stone Mill. As it passed there was a clear view of Sam sitting in the back seat, and two Stone Mill haibane in the front.  
"Right! Let's go!" said Mawa.

Yasaka, Rakka, Hikari and Kana were sitting in the guest room, ticking off items on a list. Stone Mill and Old Home had decided to do some trading of their own. Old Home would sew up and repair clothes a little better than the Stone Mill haibane were willing to do, and Kana could repair watches. In return Stone Mill was able to repair bits of machinery, service the motor bike and the like. Rakka had worried that the trade, being outside of the Renmei account book system, might be frowned upon by the Renmei, but Kana suggested making notes and handing them to the Communicator if he wanted them.

The door was kicked open and Mawa pushed Michibi in and followed.  
"This is good, I get a pick!" said Mawa to the girls.  
He turned to Michibi "and you I no longer need." His knife hand moved, and Michibi was on the floor. Blood soaked his shirt.  
Kana looked angry and frightened. Hikari and Rakka looked frightened. Yasaka, well Yasaka was living her worse nightmare.  
Mawa decided he appreciated the expression on Yasaka's face the most. He reached out to grab her  
"You're coming with me!"  
As Yasaka opened her mouth to scream -  
Naoki stood next to her, held her shoulder and said "It's OK, dear."  
She clenched her fists together and swung her arms with her full weight behind him. She tensed and screamed just as her doubled fists hit his face.  
Mawa wasn't a martial arts expert. So he never saw the blow coming. It knocked his face to the side and sent him staggering. But neither was Yasaka, so the blow wasn't incapacitating. Mawa yelled back and raised his knife to strike;  
By now Kana had enough time to act. She picked up a frying pad and smashed the knife out of his hand. The knife went flying into the corner of the room. The momentum from the frying pan carried Kana's arm around and Rakka had to move back to avoid it. She tripped on the carpet and collapsed on the floor, facing upwards. Fortunately she had folded her wings correctly for the fall, so they were not damaged.  
Mawa snapped around and faced Kana, brushing Hikari with one of his wings. He struggled and got the frying pan from her, then lifted it to hit her head-  
Just as Hikari pushed herself into emergency mode, grabbed the wing, put her knee into Mawa's back, and pulled. She felt the wing elbow and the wing wrist crunch and snap, making her sick. But she kept pulling until Mawa managed to wrest free. He had dropped the frying pan, which would have landed on Rakka but she managed to deflect it. Due to the continual movement of everybody, Hikari was now standing near Rakka's head and Rakka was lying in front of Mawa.  
Mawa, now in full berserker mode, stepped across Rakka with his fists ready. Hikari brain had gone blank and she was standing her, defenceless.  
So Rakka, with all her strength, shoved her foot up into his groin.

Sam and Mado and Tsuchi had looked at the flat tyre.  
"Well, we are only a hundred metres from Old Home, might as well walk back. You can borrow one of our bicycles" said Sam.

They were walking up the path to the entrance when they heard a scream coming from somewhere. They all started running and as they got to the entrance hall there was another scream, much louder.  
Sam screamed back "Where are you?"  
They heard the sounds of running feet, fading out. They themselves ran into the court yard and heard a faint cry from the veranda.

Sam was the first to get to the guest room and saw:  
Hikari was vomiting up some of her breakfast, and clutching Yasaka who was clutching her back, both shaking.  
Kana was hugging herself with her arms and looking horrified.  
Rakka was curled up on the floor, trembling.  
And Michibi was lying on the floor, with blood around him -

Big Ugly Sam slammed to a halt. Yes, Michibi was dead.  
Senior Police Officer Sam took over.  
Safety first. Michibi was beyond their care. The girls seemed to be all right for now. Somewhere outside was a killer. He turned and said:  
"Mado and Tsuchi, I putting myself in charge for the time being. Firstly, go right now and check the children's quarters. Make sure that the house mother and all ten children and Kasai and Jika are present, and then make sure they all remain there. Stay there until I arrive. The killer may still be somewhere here in one of the buildings."  
His voice had changed, slightly. Mado and Tsuchi didn't quite know how he did it, but it was now a voice to obey.  
Shocked by the sight of Michibi lying on the floor, they did exactly as they were told.

"Ladies, I would like to help you a lot more than I will be able, but I must ensure the safety of the other haibane and humans. So in the near future I will be busy. But to start with-"  
He moved to Yasaka, knelt in front of her, and held her free hand.  
"Now, one by one, what happened?"  
"M - M - Mawa came in and - and " Yasaka pointed her head at Michibi.  
"Right, so Mawa did that to Michibi?"  
"Yes"  
"Then what happened?"  
"Naoki held my shoulder and said it's OK, and then I hit Mawa with both fists."  
Even police officer Sam had to blink at that one.  
"Then, when he went to hit Yasaka back, I hit him with the frying pan" said Kana. Give her some time and she will be recounting that with pride. Right now her voice was flat.  
"Very good, what happened next?"  
Hikari struggled to say something.  
"Here, I'll wipe that stuff off you" said Sam as he got out a clean hanky and cleaned Hikari's face.  
"Thanks, thanks, I, I grabbed his wing and pulled. I heard both joints snap. I feel sick."  
"Indeed? Kana can you guide both Hikari and Yasaka, I'll carry Rakka. We need to get to the children's quarter."  
He gently picked up Rakka and they all moved out of the guest room, down the stairs and across the court yard. As he walked along he continually scanned the environment, including looking behind him.  
"What happened next?  
Rakka spoke: "He was going to beat up Hikari, so I kicked him between the legs"  
Sam stopped in surprise, balancing on one foot.  
"You did what?"  
He started again.  
"You all have done very well."

There was confusion in the children's quarters.  
Sam stood in front of them and said  
"Would all children please sit around the house mother"  
They were surprised and shocked at his changed behaviour. They all huddled around Sayaka.  
"Things are going to be difficult for the next few hours, but I am sure we can manage."  
He turned to Mado and Tsuchi.  
"Take the two bicycles. Ride like hell to the community watch house and stick together! Tell them what has happened and impress upon them that we have to act fast. Tell them to send some watchmen, in a vehicle, with some emergency radios, and come back here as fast as possible. Also tell them to send someone to the Temple and request that the Communicator make an appearance here. Also get them to send some watchmen to the Stone Mill, round up every single haibane, and get them all to come here. Finally you two go to the abandoned factory, get those three and all come back here. We must ensure that every haibane is here, so that any haibane that the public might see can only be Mawa. Now go!"  
They went.  
Sam the police officer relaxed and went back to Sam the haibane, for the while.  
"House mother, if you could prepare some food for the children, it might keep then distracted."  
"Here Kana, take this tea towel and help Hikari clean her dress."  
"Rakka, help Yasaka and the twins and the house mother to make some snacks."  
"And ladies, when the factory haibane arrive, I am going to have to break to them the bad news. If you can plan between yourselves how to receive them it will be good, since they will be shocked and not functioning."

Sam checked the perimeter of the children's quarters. He made sure that the back windows and door were locked and there were no other means of entry except for the front. Eventually he stood outside and waited.

The first to arrive was the watch van, with the watch captain and another watchman. Sam, back in full police officer mode, said a brief hello, then explained what had steps he had taken.  
"Mawa has probably run off through the broken gap in the wall. But he could still be in the grounds, or in one of the buildings. If you could please put your watchman on guard outside the children's quarters, and I will show you the body." he said to the watch captain.  
Since what he was requesting was reasonable, and more thorough than what the captain had thought out, the captain did as he was requested.

Sam showed the captain Michibi, and then described what had happened. After this was safely all over the captain would relish recounting the explanation of how Mawa was fought off by four girls, but right now, with the evidence in front of him, he accepted it glumly.  
"I want all of the haibane, except for Mawa of course, here at Old Home, in the children's quarters. That way, any sighting of a haibane outside will automatically be of Mawa. Our utmost priority is to prevent any further violence, against either haibane or humans."

The next to arrive was the emergency services vehicle. This was equipped with the new emergency radio link, back to the watch house.  
"Park it up the hill on the west side, to give good sight lines to the clock tower." said Sam. The central radio antenna for the emergency services was installed at the top of the clock tower, and connected by wires to the watch house control room.

The Stone Mill haibane came in next. Sam filled them in on the details, and then delegated some of them to guard duty at the front of the children's quarters, thus releasing the watchman. He then assigned the rest to searching and securing the entire building that housed the children's quarters.  
"Remember; ALWAYS keep in groups of at least two, unless you are inside the children's quarters. That way, we will know at a glance that a single haibane can only be Mawa."

Finally a group of five arrived from the factory. Mado and Tsuchi plus Machi, Yuki and Ame.  
"A police officer's worse job." muttered Sam to himself.  
Mado and Tsuchi watched from a distance as Sam bowed to the three and spoke a few words. Machi, Yuki and Ame huddled together, and then followed Sam up the stairs to the guest room.  
They came down again. By now Kana, Hikari and Yasaka had arrived. Kana took Yuki's hand, Hikari took Machi's hand and Yasaka took Ame's hand. After a while they all waked back to the children's quarters. Rakka was ready with a sofa for them that had been moved to the far end of the room, and had prepared tea and bikkies.

Sam was with the watch captain, standing next to the emergency services vehicle.  
"You need to inform the population that this is a dangerous haibane on the loose. You need to get into operation every emergency transceiver you have. Spread the radio operators at strategic points throughout the town and the farming districts. You need to request everyone to be alert, and if they can, to be on the lookout for Mawa."  
The next hour was busy for Sam and the watch captain. They allocated their resources and were busy with a constant stream of update messages, requests and minor problems. During this time the Communicator and two Renmei arrived. Since Sam and the captain were busy, one of the other watchmen explained the situation. The Communicator then went to the children's quarters to check on the other haibane.  
At last they had a sighting. A farmer and his son were patrolling one of the farm roads, and had seen a haibane moving towards the Western Woods. He appeared to have one wing flopping down. They called in using their transceiver.

The captain and Sam had set up a logistics map of Guri in front of them.  
"Remember", said Sam, "we have to secure the entire perimeter. All he needs to do is to find one small gap to get through. So we need to have a lot of volunteers around the perimeter of Western Woods. But I also suggest you still keep some patrols in the town and in the other farming districts, and around Old Home, just in case. "  
They moved little pieces of wood, representing various watchmen and farmers and volunteers and vehicles, around on the map.  
They received another confirmed sighting of a haibane, with a dragging wing, seen at the edge of the Western Woods.  
They adjusted their resources accordingly.

The sun was setting, the shadows were lengthening and the valleys in Guri were already dark. The wind was slight and the sky was clear, allowing the full moon to light up the fields and the town and also the search parties. Sam and the captain had worked hard and there was now a complete ring of watchers around the Western Woods. Not in the woods, since at night time it would be far too dark to see anything. The line of watches stretched from Wall to Wall, leaving a safe gap at the walls themselves, of course, all the way round the Western Woods. The population of Guri was putting a lot of effort into this, but then again this was the first murder in Guri for quite some time and they didn't want another.  
The haibane packed into the children's quarters and slept on bedrolls on the floor. The Stone Mill members had gone, in pairs, to the nearest bedrooms and storage rooms, and bought back enough bedding for all. The factory haibane, still in shock, huddled together in one corner. Near them the Old Home senior haibane, except for Sam, had their bedrolls. In the middle of the room the Stone Mill people were sleeping. And the house mother and the children slept in their normal beds. The watch and the citizens who were helping merely handed over to the next shift, and walked home to sleep. They walked in groups. Finally, the Communicator and the two Renmei and commandeered a nearby bedroom and took turns to rest.  
Rakka and Hikari, after settling in the factory haibane, had been busy preparing food for everyone.  
Finally there was a sort of silence in the children's quarter. Many of the haibane were sleeping, but there were also some lying awake and holding onto their companions.

Sam didn't sleep. He stayed awake, supervising the changing of the shifts and monitoring the radio traffic. A couple of hours before dawn he began to organise the morning search parties. An hour before dawn there was a group of people standing outside the emergency services vehicle. They were looking out towards the Western Woods, visible as a silhouette in the moonlight. Four haibane from Stone Mill, half a dozen watch men, the Communicator, and half a dozen volunteers. Sam was explaining today's plan.  
"The Western Woods are thick. There is no way we can search them thoroughly and be confident about not missing him. However we can keep the woods secured and send out search parties to try to flush him out. In there is also the old haibane chapel and the ruins. If I may request, the Stone Mill haibane should be the only ones to search there?"  
The watchmen were agreeable. The Communicator did not object. They were all looking west when

A flicker of light.  
An orange red fireball rose above the Western Woods skyline. From where they were, it was twice the size of the moon. It rose a short distance into the sky, then settled down again. A cloud of thick black smoke was visible, before it dissipated and merged into the pre-morning dusk.  
The silence continued. Then, racing past them at the speed of sound, was a muffled crack followed by rumbling sounds, which slowly faded.

"What. Was. That." said Sam. "Anybody?"  
Silence.  
"Its not a fuel depot, they are nowhere near there.", said the watch captain.  
"Communicator, do you know?" asked Sam.  
The Communicator shook his head.

The emergency services radio operator was suddenly busy. After ten minutes of intense activity and communication, Sam called the gathering around his map.  
"We have enough compass bearings and sight lines to be confident. The fire ball was centred on the haibane ruins."  
"Mr Communicator, I propose that as soon as it is light enough a group of four watch men and four Stone Mill haibane take two trucks and a radio and set off to investigate. They get as close as possible to the forest, then walk in. At the ruins itself, the humans stop and the haibane investigate. Remember that the haibane must always stay in at least groups of two. Mawa may still be out there somewhere."  
"I give permission."

As the sun started peeking over the Walls, the two trucks moved out and around the forest to the best point for accessing the ruins. They reported back by radio:  
"We are at the forest, walking in now."  
After a while, "We are at the clearing. The haibane are checking the area."  
A further while, "We have him, returning now."

The trucks came back; the sun was shining in its morning glory, glittering off the fields and waterways. The trucks parked and their occupants climbed out and stood around silently. Tsuchi went to the back of one and said  
"Here he is."

Sam and the Communicator and the watch captain peered inside.  
It was not a pleasant sight. Lying on the floor of the truck was what could be recognised as the figure of a haibane. Arms outstrecthed above his head, two wings, one in the normal position and one pointing down, two legs. Without any feature or colour. Blackened and burnt.  
"Horrible sight" said Sam.  
"The broken wing confirms that this is Mawa" said the watch captain.  
The Communicator didn't say anything at all.

They withdrew. Tsuchi handed Sam a circular object. After a moment he recognised it for what it was: a halo. But a halo which looked like it had been turned into a foamy mass and expanded, before setting hard. There were countless holes honeycombing through it, it was twisted and distorted and burnt black.  
"It looks like it suddenly released a lot of heat." said Tsuchi.  
"So they have built-in self-destructs" said Sam. He couldn't suppress an involuntarily glance upwards in the direction of his own halo.

Weary, so weary. Sam spoke to the Communicator and the watch captain.  
"The emergency is over. I'm sure you can handle it from now on."  
He walked to the children's quarters.  
"Everybody, the emergency is over. Hikari and Kana, can you come with me? I need to discuss some things we will need to do soon. Rakka and Yasaka and the twins, you need to provide food for the masses, and help the factory haibane."

Sam shoved his blankets to one side and lay down on his bed and stared at the ceiling. Hikari sat on one side, and Kana on the other.  
"For a start, I'm fairly sure I will be called in for a little talk with the Communicator, for overstepping my bounds and bossing everyone around." said Sam.  
"But you did well, and you were first on the scene anyway!" said Hikari.  
"If the watchmen weren't happy with you they would have said so!" said Kana.  
"Relax. Remember the saying I have used before, it is sometimes better to ask for forgiveness than permission? Well, if you're going to work under that principle, you can't expect to get out of the asking for forgiveness bit. I did break the principle of not interacting directly in human affairs. But I'm sure I'll get off lightly."  
More grumbles from Hikari and especially Kana.  
"Secondly and more importantly, the factory mob are going to have a hard time. They are now down to three, and Michibi was, by their popular choice, their new leader. I think we had better coordinate with the Stone Mill nest and have a group visit them every evening. To make sure they get their food supplies and cook enough to eat and generally to keep them safe and sane."  
"I'm happy to go over and do some cooking for them." said Hikari.  
There was a small gap and then Hikari continued with  
"How did Mawa end up in Guri in the first place? He quite definitely did not belong here"  
There was silence from Sam. Hikari and Kana looked at him, and realised he was fast asleep.  
"Well, he didn't get any sleep at all since it started yesterday morning." said Kana.  
Hikari lay down on her back and also stared at the ceiling.  
"But still, Mawa must have been a mistake. So the Wall can make mistakes?"  
"Hmm, something must make mistakes, or not be perfect. Remember how Reki was born in a garden shed and nobody found her for some time?" said Kana.  
"Sam said something about he, Suna and the pilot, which we now know was Mawa, all died at about the same time. So maybe something got confused?" said Hikari.  
"Maybe. And Sam and Mawa were sent here by mistake. The Wall, if it is the Wall, managed to adapt to Sam, but failed completely with Mawa." said Kana.  
"That is, failed completely until it trigged Mawa's halo's self-destruct mechanism. Do you think Mawa was trying to do a Day of Flight?" continued Kana.  
Now there was silence from Hikari. Kana, who had been absent mindly studying her hands while trying to think up her replies, looked across. Hikari was also asleep.  
Kana pulled up the blanket, and put it over the two of them. For good measure she rolled under it as well, she wanted to do some more thinking before going off to her bed.  
"So Sam was a mistake, that turned out well for all concerned. Mawa was just a very bad mistake. Perhaps the mistakes are connected. But if no original mistake had been made, then me and Hikari would not have the great experience of being Sam's senpai. And Kage would have missed her Day of Flight. No, can't have that. Why couldn't we have had Sam but not Mawa? Nothing good came from Mawa's stay in Guri. We escaped his violence by the narrowest of margins."  
Kana mused for a bit: "And where would Sam and Mawa have normally gone?"

Fifteen minutes later a tired Rakka stepped through the still open door, to ask them if they were having breakfast and how much. She stopped and looked at all three of them sleeping soundly. She smiled and closed the door as she left. She was still smiling faintly by the time she got back to the kitchen to say there was no need to make double breakfast helpings for Sam.


	12. Chapter 11, Sayonara

It was evening meal time the next day. Everyone had had at least some sleep and were present for a meal. Hikari and Rakka were in the kitchen preparing and cooking, while Kasai and Jika served the food. Jika reported that Sam has turned up and he was hungry. So think of Sam's appetite as being like an elephant running. First it started slow, with a few bowls of soup and aperitifs. Then the elephant got up to a walk, and the twins were delivering medium sized platefuls. The ground started to tremble as the elephant worked its way up to a trot and the twins ran a relay of full platters in one direction and empty platters in the other. Finally the elephant was in full gallop, Sam's appetite was devouring everything in its path and leaving nothing but destruction and breadcrumbs and soup stained table clothes in its wake.  
At least that is what the twins reported.  
Hikari looked at Rakka and raised her eyebrows.  
"Twins, are you sure that this is only Sam doing the eating? Maybe there are others too?"  
"No, it's Sam only, true." said Jika, giggle.  
"Sam is the only one eating." said Kasai, more giggles.  
"Hmm, perhaps I will have a look." said Hikari.  
She took a full platter out and had a look. Sure enough, there was Sam, finishing off a large plate of food. But there was also most of the Stone Mill haibane, and two watchmen, who were also eating a little bit more that a little.  
"Here's some more." she said, "I've been informed that it was Sam alone eating the food."  
"Well, miss, Sam is certainly a stellar performer in the food department, but us watchmen have been doing our bit also." said the watch captain.  
"And the Stone Mill gang are certainly no slackers either." said Tsuchi.  
Hikari gave a big smile. She walked down the end of the table, and looked towards the table and its occupants on the far side of the guest room. As she did, her smile slipped and faded and fizzled away.

Under a small black cloud sat the remaining three factory haibane, staring at the small plates of food in front of them. Teenage faces shouldn't have crease lines and worry lines, but nonetheless these teenagers managed. Their shoulders drooped, their wings drooped, and even their halos appeared dimmer than usual. Sitting with them were Yasaka and Kana. The idea had been that Yasaka and Kana would try to lift the spirits of the factory haibane, but it seemed the spirits were so depressed that the opposite was happening, Yasaka and Kana looked almost as bad as the factory haibane.  
Hikari tapped Yasaka's shoulder.  
"How about you have your meal now with the others." she said.  
Hikari sat down next to Kana, momentarily patting her back.  
"Would you like anything special for your meal?" asked Hikari, trying to project an upbeat hopeful image.  
"No, not hungry." said Ame.  
"Why not leave us alone for a while." said Machi.  
"Yeah, let us go back to the factory." said Yuki.  
"Because we can't stand the idea of you lot rattling around in an empty factory in your state." said Hikari.  
"And besides which, even the Communicator agrees, which is why he ordered you to stay here for a couple of nights." she finished.  
Even in their current state, the factory haibane were not willing to disobey a direct order from the Communicator.

Rakka had arranged to put three mattresses and bedding into one of the larger bedrooms which was upstairs in the same wing as the guest room. Kana and Hikari escorted their charges there and left them to their grief. On the way back, Kana and Hikari sat on the top step of the stairway, arms around each other:  
"I didn't realise how bad things were going to be for them" said Hikari.  
"Well, as Sam said, their numbers are down to a mere shadow of what they used to be, and they lost their popular leader. And he was murdered by one of their own." said Kana.  
They got up and went back to the kitchen to help clean up.  
The watchmen had at last finished taking down statements from all concerned.  
"Sorry about this", said the watch captain to Rakka,  
"But unfortunately, while emergencies come to an end, paper work is forever. We won't bother taking statements from the three remaining factory haibane, they weren't here when the action occurred. Besides which, the Communicator requested us not to. So we have finished here now, miss, and we will make our departure."  
The watchmen left.  
"I shall arrange a work party to come here tomorrow morning to help clean up any remaining mess and put everything back into its usual place" said Tsuchi, as the Stone Mill haibane also made their departure.

The Old Home haibane sat at the table in silence.  
"We will have to cater for the Stone Mill workers tomorrow, and look after the factory haibane, and get our routine back to normal." said Rakka after a while.  
"What happened to you-know-whose body?" asked Kana.  
"The Communicator took care of all of that." said Sam. "Personally I hope that bury him an unmarked grave in some isolated place and forget its location."  
Silence.  
"Time for bed." said Rakka.

Three days later the abandoned factory now had its haibane back. But only three. The first day they returned, Hikari had prepared lunch for them in their kitchen and Kana had cleaned up the mess afterwards.  
"Mawa's room is as he left it, do you want me to clean it out?" said Sam.  
The factory haibane shuddered at the thought of entering it themselves. So Sam spent an hour deconstructing Mawa's remaining presence at the factory. He approached it as if he was doing a forensic examination back on Earth. But the only thing he could note was that Mawa had left a complete lack of any trace of his personality. It was just a room to store clothes in and to sleep. Sam sat down on the chair and tried to reason this out.  
"I've got plenty of personality in my room. Drawings by the children, Suna's diary, Naoki's wine glasses, a stuffed rabbit. Plus my notes for my project, and old plans for the doughnut maker. But most, if not all, come as a result of my connections to others, like Suna, Midori, Kana, Hana and more. They are part of my life, and a part of my heart. Mawa obviously had no connections with anyone, or at least no positive connections. So nothing in his room to indicate such connections. He didn't even seem to have had any hobbies."  
Sam thought about something else: "With no connections to others, then he would have never been disturbed by grief, never had feelings of loneliness or desolation. So never had the prerequisites to push him into any sort of Tsumitsuki, so nothing like any black spots on his wings to indicate his true nature."  
Sam had shrugged his shoulders, and set to sorting out stuff. Underwear and worn clothing and rubbish went into the bin. Good clothing he would take back and put into the spare clothes bin at Old Home. Blankets and sheets he laundered and hung up to dry. By the time he was finished, the room was bare except for an empty wardrobe, a cleaned window and a bed. Ready to be claimed, in a haibane generation's time, by some new haibane who would be ignorant about its history.  
After telling them that tomorrow evening someone from Stone Mill will be helping out, Sam and co walked back to Old Home.

On the notice board at the entrance to Old Home, was a message from the Communicator requesting Sam's presence sometime tomorrow. Sam took it down and looked at it.  
"This is where I get told off, and given a token punishment." he said.  
"I still think this is ridiculous." said Kana.  
"I'll survive." said Sam

The next day, the Communicator was firm.  
"A guiding principle for the haibane of Guri is to never interfere in the affairs of humans. However you took it upon yourself to direct the emergency, giving orders to humans. How do you justify this?"  
Sam felt he was facing a judge and giving his evidence in some criminal case. He had to make a conscious effort to suppress the reflex to say 'your honour' once per sentence.  
"My major concern was to prevent any more accidents or deaths of both haibane and humans, your - err - Mr Communicator." he said.  
"Very well. I request that you call upon the town watch and offer a formal apology. I will set up a date and time with them." said the Communicator.  
"Thank you"  
The Communicator got up and walked with Sam to the entrance.  
"Also, congratulations on the good work, Sam."  
"Thank you!"

A few days later. Winter had set in.

A notice appeared on the notice board, requesting Sam's presence tomorrow lunch time at the watch house, and that he give a formal apology to the watch for overriding the watch's authority.  
That night, it was Old Home's turn to go over to the factory. It was cold and snow was threatening. Sam and Hikari and Kana met at the clock tower after work and walked over. It was a dismal night outside. And inside?  
"I've made scrambled eggs on toast with tomatoes" said Hikari.  
"Thanks" said Yuki.  
Silence.  
"Anybody like some pepper and salt" asked Kana.  
"No thanks" said Machi.  
Silence.  
"Sorry, I can't eat any more" said Ame, leaving half of her single slice of toast and egg behind.  
"Never mind" said Hikari.  
Silence.  
"I bought some cakes from the bakery for us" said Sam.  
"Thanks"  
Even with Sam and co, the atmosphere in the room felt hollow, desolate. A permanent black cloud seemed to be firmly attached above the factory haibane's heads.  
"I'll wash up" volunteered Sam.  
"Thanks"  
A little later.  
"Bye bye, we'll see you in two days time"  
"Bye"  
But then nobody expected it to be anything else but a dismal night inside as well.

The next day Sam was back in the watch house main meeting room. He was standing on the podium at one end, facing all of the watchmen, the two active judges, half a dozen emergency workers including Hibana, and a dozen or so citizens who had played a major part in the emergency.  
"I would like to formally apologise for usurping your chain of command in the recent emergency. I could have done better. I should have placed myself at your command and offered my expertise. I am sorry."  
The humans clapped politely. The watch captain then got up and:  
"I accept your apology." more polite clapping.  
"I would also like to offer the watch's formal apology for letting the prisoner escape."  
"Finally I would like to thank Sam and your crew at Old Home and Stone Mill, for your prompt actions and help in the emergency. I appreciate it was not an easy time for you." more clapping.  
"Now that the formalities are over, I would like to invite you to join us for lunch!" said the captain, to the sound a lot more enthusiastic clapping.  
The captain shook hands with Sam, food was brought in and event turned into an extended lunch.

The next day Sam and Hikari and Kana were at the factory once again.  
"I've decided to start going back to work tomorrow." announced Ame.  
"Good, sounds good. Machi and Yuki?" said Sam.  
"I'm going to wait a few days before starting." said Machi.  
"Not yet" said Yuki.

The next day Ame was at work, counting second hand bricks.  
108, 109, 110, 111,  
She thought about Michibi. Were they any longer the factory haibane? After Hyouko had gone, Michibi had provided a stable centre. He had the knack of bringing a collection of individuals together and making them feel like a group. Now? They were three loose gears rattling around in the back of a defunct clock.  
She had forgotten what her count was.  
1, 2, 3,  
At this point she poked at a brick too hard and it fell onto her shoes.  
"******!" she shouted.  
The salvage yard owner came over.  
"Ame, I think you are not yet ready for work yet, perhaps you should take a longer break off?"  
"Yeah, sorry." said Ame.

A few days later.

By common consent, Machi had moved into the bedroom next to Yuki's and Ame's. Ame was still sleeping in a spare bed in Yuki's room. This morning, Machi had looked out the window, and seeing it was clear, he said.  
"I think we should go for a walk to the river and back. The exercise will be good for us. And none of us are working anyway."  
"It's cold today, it's not a good idea" said Yuki.  
"Well, I still think we should go" said Machi in a louder voice.  
"No" said Ame.  
"Michibi was able to suggest outings and we went, so why can't I?" said Machi.  
"Look, you're not Michibi, so stop trying to act as if you are!" shouted Ame.  
"Stupid girls! What are you going to do, then?" screamed Machi at them. He stormed off to his room, lay flat on his bed and howled in anguish.  
Ame and Yuki looked at each other, then slowly got up, followed Machi, and sat either side of him. What else did they have to do?

On yet another day they were having lunch. Machi and sliced the remaining bread into eight slices, and they each took two slices for their sandwiches.  
"I don't want any more" said Machi.  
"Then I'll take the remaining" said Yuki.  
"Hey wait a minute, I want some more too!" said Ame.  
They knew it was totally pointless, but nevertheless the two girls had a screaming match at each other.  
"Shut up" shouted Machi.  
They sat in a row on the sofa, Machi in the middle, and the girls had a very polite conversation expressing their feelings to the other, but every statement had to be relayed through Machi first.

The following day Sam had brought some bakery goodies and taken them to the factory. He was by himself for a change. This night he had decided to be proactive, and to try to engage them in some dialog.  
"Here, I believe these are your favourites, Ame." Sam had opened the bag and taken out various delectables.  
They cheered up slightly as they ate one each.  
"You're not going to well, are you?" he asked.  
"No." said Yuki.  
"What is happening?" he asked.  
"We keep arguing. We get on each other's nerves. We're not compatible. When we were in a bigger group that didn't matter as there were others to relate to. When Michibi was here we were able overcome our differences. But by ourselves ..." said Ame.  
"It feels like there is no longer anything in common from which we can form a group." said Yuki.  
"Also, can you divide up the remaining cakes? Otherwise we will have another screaming match about who gets what." said Machi to Sam.  
Sigh. "Certainly, who wants what?" said Sam.

By a week later, Sam was getting grumpy and irritable. And also frightened. As he explained to Rakka  
"If this situation isn't resolved, we are going to have three simultaneous attacks of the black spots, and they will reinforce each other and it will be three haibane who miss their Day of Flight. Just like Michibi was cheated out of his."

Sam was standing before the Communicator, who, as usual, was sitting at his table under the pagoda in the temple. Sam had explained the situation.  
"So, what can be done?" said Sam.  
"The Renmei can think of no better course of action than what we are doing now. It is not a very good course, but it's the only one we have at the moment." said the Communicator.  
"Well, how about consulting with us, we're not children you know." said Sam, his voice raising.  
"Compared to us, the others, apart from you, are children." said the Communicator.  
"Yeah, you got me there." said Sam. "And the only idea I have is to keep on trying and talking with them."

Another few days and it was the turn for Old Home to visit the factory. It was snowing, so Sam had begged a lift from Mado. So Mado, Sam, Hikari and Kana were all present in the exceeding uncheery presence of the factory haibane. As Mado was driving them over in the Stone Mill's truck, Sam had explained:  
"I am going to do my best to draw them out of their shells. Hopefully I won't crack them in the process. If they get, shall we say, robust towards me, then let them be. After all, I'm big enough and ugly enough to take it."  
Hikari had cooked a nice but basic meal, which had been silently eaten. Kana and Mado had cleaned up afterwards. Then Mado, Hikari and Kana had sat in a line on the sofa in their dining room, out of the way but able to see whatever Sam managed to get going with the factory haibane.  
"One thing we have avoided discussing is the unfortunate fact that if I had been five minutes earlier I could have stopped all of this from happening. " said Sam.  
"Yeah, except that you were outside admiring the flowers so Michibi got killed!' said Ame.  
"Ame, you know that he isn't to blame for being late." said Machi.  
"Course I know it! Just the same, he was too damn late! Why couldn't you have been earlier?" said Ame.  
"Sorry" said Sam.  
"And then" continued Ame, "the elegant refined Old Home girls were the ones to fight of the crazy piece of ****, and you still weren't there!".  
"Ame, please, you are getting crazy yourself" said Yuki, as she tried to hold onto Ame's arm.  
Ame flung Yuki's hand away. "I will get as crazy as I want! The stupid ******* incompetent **** heads at the watch allowed that ******* to escape and Sam didn't do a thing.  
"And now we have to put up with his ugly face every night!" screamed Ame. She swung her arm wide and slapped Sam on the face.  
Sam, because of his martial arts training, saw the blow coming a mile away, of course. He waited to the last possible moment, and then jerked his face sideways away from the blow. So Ame didn't damage her hand. And also it didn't hurt Sam as much, but he didn't give that much thought.  
Ame stopped, looked at her hand in horror, and collapsed into foetal position on the floor.  
"I'm going mad, I'm going mad."  
Machi and Yuki knelt either side of Ame. Sam carefully lowered himself down and patted Ame's back between her wings.  
"No, you, and the others, are suffering from grief. And you don't see any good way out of it." he said.  
Kana and Hikari noted tears going down Sam's face.  
"Does everyone act like this when grieving?" asked Machi.  
"Everyone is different, I've seen a lot in my job." said Sam, "And I suffered from it myself, as you know."  
Ame straightened out and looked up at Sam.  
"Tell me, did the same thing happen to your girlfriend as happened to Yasaka?"  
Sam froze, his face tightened.  
"Why should I answer that?" he said to himself.  
"Because it makes no difference to you any more, stupid. And maybe it will give them some perspective in their own grief" he answered to himself.  
"Yes" said Sam. He looked as if he was in pain.  
"Did you ever recover?" asked Yuki, momentarily diverted from her own troubles.

Silence

He was going to answer "Yes, of course" when he stopped.  
Had he? Of course he had, that is what he always said.  
Really? When Yasaka had buttonholed him, why was he so defensive?  
Because he hadn't ever shed a tear for Tatiana.  
Why not? Even tough macho men should be allowed to in such circumstances.  
So does that indicate he had recovered?  
Does it?  
Tears for Naoki, but none for Tatiana?  
Where were they?

"Well."  
"Maybe not."  
"Probably no." said Sam.

"Great" said Machi, "So we're all in pain."

During this exchange Mado, Hirkari and Kana had moved together on the sofa, seeking each other's comfort. Hikari in the centre had her arms around both Kana's and Mado's. It was as if Sam, Machi, Yuki and Ame were statues, and Mado and co were powerless observers, who could only watch as they slowly disintegrating into chunks of rubble, hammered by circumstances too powerful to be resisted.

It was at this point that a crow flew into the doorway of the kitchen, stood on the floor and gave a large "Caw!".  
Kana looked at this abomination with disbelief. She sprung up, grabbed a broom that had been fortuitously leaning against the wall (it hadn't been used for a month) and screamed.  
"You damn crow! How dare you interrupt us!" she said as she charged after the crow.  
The three factory haibane and Sam looked up in slight interest.  
"Kana, Stop!" screamed Hikari, "It's a crow!"  
"Of a course it's a crow, and I'm going to kill it!" screamed back Kana.  
"I mean it's a Sam crow!" said Hikari.  
"What do you mean? Oh" said Kana, as she stopped.  
"Do you mean it's like the crow that led you to me." said Sam, he was no longer looking totally dispirited.  
Kana stopped.  
"Perhaps we should follow it, just to be sure." said Hikari.

The factory haibane stood up.  
"I suppose so." said Yuki.  
"Can't be any worse than staying here." said Ame.  
The crow hopped and flew in front of them, up the stairs, along the corridor, out into the open, up some more stairs, across an empty floor, then stopped at one of those portable hut offices.  
"Caw!" and with this sign of its opinion of the haibane, it flew off.  
This particular office was in an open section of the factory. It wasn't on the top floor, so it was sheltered from above. However the sides looked out over an empty floor and the girders and the surrounding factory area. The air was cold, small eddies of wind blew bits of sand and dust around, the moon lit up the floor barely enough for the haibane to see each other as shadows.  
They stood there in silence. Sam realised that the factory haibane didn't want to do anything because of fear - fear that all this would be for nothing.  
"Ame, you might as well find out now what is, or isn't, behind that door." said Sam.  
Ame slowly and reluctantly pushed the door inwards to open. To reveal  
A fully grown cocoon. Of course.  
Which was making burbling sounds.  
The cocoon cracked and sent a wave of water past their feet and out on to the floor of the factory.  
The factory haibane rushed in, the others stayed outside.  
"Yes! It's Michibi" screamed Ame.  
"Michibi!" screamed Yuki.  
"Let's get him to his room." yelled Machi.

The three of them carried the newly hatched Michibi back down and to his room. The other haibane followed at a respectful distance. The factory haibane were almost hysterical in their excitement, however they knew the job they had to do. Sam and co faded out of the scene and walked back down the corridor.  
Sam stopped just before the staircase, and looked at one of the bedroom doors. There were more tears in his eyes.  
Suna's room.  
Kana took one of Sam's hands. Hikari took the other.  
"Sam, Suna went on her Day of Flight. There is no expectation that she will come back." said Hikari.  
"Come, Sam, we need to go home." said Kana.  
Sam sighed and let them lead him away.

Mado drove the three other haibane back to Old Home. There was absolutely no talking whatsoever. Mado left them at the entrance, the sound of his truck slowly faded into the night. From inside the court yard three silhouettes could be seen, outlined by the entrance light. One big one with two small ones, one on either side. The two small ones were holding the big one's hands. There was a long pause, and then they all moved together to Sam's room.  
Sam sat on the edge of his bed. Hikari and Kana sat either side, with his arms around them. Sam stared at his book case, the one that contained two bottles of wine, and a stuffed rabbit and a diary. Back on Earth his bedroom wall had a single, faded, picture of Tatiana.  
When a tsunami hits a coast line, often the water is sucked out seaward first, exposing the sea floor. Then it all comes back again. The Sam's grief tsunami was sucking away all of the comfortable lies and images he had constructed of his life, baring his emotional sea floor.  
Too busy to form another relationship? No, it was plain to see now, he had avoided the possibility. There were a number of friendly offers, but he had always politely manoeuvred away from them. He made his life busy. He had been too afraid to make another commitment.  
Fully recovered from his grief? No, he had frozen it and never let it thaw out.  
Why did he switch careers to police work? To keep himself busy, to help others in their troubles so that he didn't have to face his own.  
Was all of this hidden from others? No, he now realised that those close enough to him at work would have a good idea of what was going on.  
Remember when he told the Communicator that he was sure he didn't have any issues? Hah.  
The tide reached it lowest point. The water came back and swept him away in a swirling confusion of tears and memories of all of those years alone, of what might have been, of what he had lost, of what pain Tatiana had suffered.

A few hours later. Sam was emotionally drained flat. He had used every hanky in the room, including Hikari's and Kana's.  
"Thank you my friends. You have got me to here safety, I'm all right for the time being."  
"I'll put the hankies into this bin and wash them for you." said Hikari.  
They said goodnight.

Kana and Hikari walked down the corridor arm in arm and stopped at the staircase. Their faces were streaked with sympathy tears.  
"I think he is, at last, all right." said Kana.  
"It's still not too late, shall we tell Rakka?" said Hikari.  
They went via the laundry, where they rapidly rinsed the hankies and hung them outside under the veranda.

"Hello Rakka, are you still awake?"  
"Yes, come in."  
They sat on Rakka's bed; Rakka was sitting at her desk reading a book. It had taken her a long time to get around to setting up her bedroom, but she had finally got there.  
"Sam has finally shed tears over his girlfriend's death." said Hikari.  
"Like, an ocean's worth, not just a few measly litres." added Kana.  
"Well, that's good news, although I suppose it must have been traumatic for Sam." said Rakka.  
"How did you manage to get him across the line?" she added.  
"Eeek!" said Hikari, "We've totally forgotten. Michibi is back!"  
"What!"

Ten minutes of explanation later.  
"That is so nice" said Rakka, wiping her face with her own handkerchief.

* * *  
A week after Michibi's hatching; the Factory mob had invited the Old Home mob and the Stone Mill mob over for dinner. Since the weather had turned nasty, the Stone Mill haibane had arranged a lift for the Old Home ones.

This time the atmosphere was different.  
"Hello everyone! Please come in and have a seat!" this was from Michibi, looking fit and well and definitely in a much better state than the last time Sam had seen him.

The twins were determined to ask a few questions:  
"Can you remember getting stabbed to death?" asked Jika  
"Jika!" said Rakka, "mind what you say!"  
"No, that's all right." said Michibi, "Actually I don't. I don't remember anything at all of my last meeting with - that fellow - and I'm quite happy not to."  
"Did your wings hurt the second time?" said Kasai.  
"You bet they did. Hopefully I'll get extra haibane-hood points for suffering through that twice"

"No Hikari, you are not allowed in the kitchen this time" said Ame.

"I've bought a nice bottle of wine" said Sam, showing one of the bottles Naoki and given him. "Not the usual cheap stuff us haibane have to put up with."  
"Ooh, nice" said Yuki.

"Everyone, we have, for once, a positive announcement to make!" said Michibi.  
"Ame has found a cocoon!"  
Cheers from the crowd.  
"And that's not all, Yuki has also found another cocoon! Neither will hatch anytime soon, but we are looking forward to our new companions!"  
More cheers.

Within a week everybody had settled back into their routine. They had gone back to work, and the conversations across the tables during meal times in the three nests were about mundane topics like whose turn was it to do the dishes, what food were they going to buy tomorrow, which chores needed doing the most, and normal gossip about each other and when might the two new cocoons hatch.

On this night, after the Old Home evening meal, the twins had opened the last of the jigsaw puzzles given to them by Naoki, and were filling it out on the floor, Sam was helping. Kana had just finished demonstrating to her companions her last modification to the clock, a remote switch. A box with a switch and a long long extension cord. The cord reached back to the clock tower, turning the switch on made the clock tower bell ring continuously.

"But of what use is it?" said Hikari.  
"Emergencies, of course. Like the time we searched for Kuu. It could have been used in our most recent crisis. And it can be used for future hatchings, the person on duty monitoring the cocoon just switches on the bell for a few rings to summon everyone when the cocoon starts to crack" explained Kana.  
"I suppose it makes sense." said Hikari.

Hikari had settled down to idly reading yet another cooking book, Yasaka was sewing a patch onto one of her dresses and Rakka was sitting on the sofa, conscious of the activity around her but mainly thinking her own thoughts.

She was thinking how wonderful it was to live with such a wonderful group of people, how they supported each other and got along so well. How fabulous it was to be the guide to such people, and how they in turn guided her. How pleasant to be connected to each other and be a part of each other's future.

Sigh. Poor Rakka. We know what's going to happen very soon, don't we?

Kana visited Hikari in the bakery at the end of the work day.  
"Hello Kana. Hikari, feel free to take away a bag of the remaining cakes and breads" said the baker.  
Hikari was draining the oil from the doughnut machine, prior to cleaning it. She was always meticulous about allowing the oil to cool off before doing this.  
Watching here, Kana had an idea.  
"You know, we should make some spares of the high wearing moving parts. We wouldn't want the whole machine to be useless just because some small part breaks, would we?"  
"Sounds like a good idea" said Hikari.  
"Also, I should draw up proper plans of the machine, and make some operating instructions" said Kana.

Meanwhile, Sam was playing with the children when he had an idea.  
"Wouldn't it be good to be able to give them a gift each? Something that might last for a while. Hmm, would the Communicator allow be to make something from second hand materials, even though technically speaking the resulting toy would be new?"

Kana and Hikari start visiting the Stone Mill machinery room for the next week or so, making replacements.

Sam had visited the Communicator, and posed his question.  
After some thinking, the Communicator had agreed that, in this case and just for once, he would allow the 'new' toys as gifts for the children.

So Sam also began visiting the Stone Mill machinery room also, bringing in all sorts of second hand materials, and started to make ten items for gifts.

Tsuchi and Mado and Kabe observed all of this activity, consulted with each other, and came to certain conclusions.

Soon after, on a Sunday afternoon, Rakka was sitting in the guest room, sipping a cup of tea and reading one of Naoki's daughter's books. It was an enjoyable bit of escapism that she allowed herself every so often. Outside on the veranda Sam and Hikari and Kana were sitting, finishing off some doughnuts. Being winter, they were rugged up, but the sun was shining for once.  
Rakka glanced up from her book, to see Sam, Hikari and Kana were all silent, all looking slightly up into the sky, all with thoughtful expressions on the faces.  
Oh  
She looked down, but the letters on the page were now too blurry to read. She made a mental note to herself to accumulate some more handkerchiefs; she was going to need them.

Four days later, Kana, Sam and Hikari stood in front of the rest of the Old Home haibane at tea time. They bowed and Sam said.  
"Sorry, but it appears it is time for us to go."  
Their halos flicked, all at the same time.

Influenced by Sam's beliefs, Kana and Hikari were just as determined as Sam to say goodbye properly. Let's view some of them:

Oyakata had been repairing a watch. He looked up from the magnifying glass as Kana softly knocked on the door and came in.  
"Hello master. I, along with Sam and Hikari, are going soon. You're invited to the send off. I wish to thank you deeply. As a parting gift I'm giving you my watch piece."  
They held hands for a moment, and then Kana turned and walked out of the door.  
Oyakata held the watch piece in his hand. Slowly he put it on his work bench, and then he opened his filing cabinet. From the back of the bottom draw he took out a small red box. He unlocked it. Inside was an item wrapped up in paper. Oyakata unwrapped it to reveal another watch piece, smaller than Kana's.  
He looked at the two watch pieces on his bench for long minutes, then carefully wrapped both up in tissue paper, locked them back into the box and replaced them in his filing cabinet.  
No need to put any labels on them, he would remember who they were from, even if nobody else did.  
He tried to go back to fixing the watch, but he could no longer see the fine detail, so he gave up for the day.

At the end of the day Hikari waited until the baker and his assistants were all present, and then announced:  
"I'm sorry to say this, but this is my last day of work."  
She extended an invitation just as Kana had. And then she was gone.  
One of the assistants looked at the baker and said  
"Now that's a bummer, isn't it boss." They all agreed.

Sam fixed is last radio. He took it to Hibana's desk and carefully put it down.  
"Hibana, I'm afraid this is the last radio that I'm repairing."  
"Oh. Well, I am grateful for your blessings."

Hana was trying to reach up and get her dress from the washing line, when she saw Sam walking up, carrying a bag of something.  
"Sam! Sam! Lift me up so I can get my dress from the line!"  
Sam lifted her up and she unpegged her dried clothes.  
"Now Hana, I have some really sad news. Kana and Hikari and I are going to be leaving on our Day of Flight soon, just like Nemu and Reki and Kuu did."  
"No! I want to play with you more!" wailed Hana, hugging Sam's neck.  
"I'm really sorry, but we have no choice. Don't cry, I love you. "  
Sam reached for the bag.  
"I made you all a gift, here's yours." Sam handed Hana a pretty hairbrush.  
"See, it has you name on it, and a picture of a flower."  
Hana was gripping the hairbrush and still sniffling as Sam carried her, and the bag of gifts, to the children's quarters.

"Goodbye Sayaka." said Sam, "I hope I have provided you with some entertainment?"  
"Oh Sam, you are by far and away the most entertaining haibane I have ever had the pleasure to meet. I shall treasure the memories."

"Mado, I would like to give to you this figurine of a haibane doing their stretching exercises to you. It was given to me by Kage, she got it from her senpai." said Kana.  
"I am", Mado had to pause to regain control over is voice, "honoured."  
He examined it.  
"It's made of bronze, which is long lasting. And it is indeed very old."  
"By the way, he or she isn't doing their stretching exercises; they are reaching up to commence a Day of Flight."  
"Oh" said Kana.

"Rakka, I wish to give my appreciation for you care and leadership while I have been here. I'm sorry to go, but you know how it is"  
She did.  
"Midori gave me her stuffed rabbit, so I am giving it to you. It's the one she was holding when Hyouko rode off with Reki on the scooter that time."  
"Thank you" said Rakka, with a sniff.  
"Also, put these remaining bottles of wine from Naoki with your other bottles."

"Yasaka, I admire how much you have progressed in the short time you have been here. I would wish to know you for longer, but..." said Sam.  
Yasaka wrapped her arms around Sam and hugged him.  
"Also you might like to trying to cultivate a friendship with Ame; she admires your progress also."

"Hello Ame" said Sam.  
"So, you are leaving us just like Midori and Hyouko." said Ame.  
"Well, if Midori could, I will too", and with that she gave Sam a brief hug.  
"I'm going to miss your ugly face!" she said.  
"Suna gave me her diary from her early years here. I would like to give it to you" said Sam, as he handed over a wrapped parcel.  
"Thank you" said Ame, taking the diary and holding it carefully in both hands.

Sam had by now written out in final form his haibane stories. He packed then into a bag, and he and Hikari and Kana walked out to the temple to pay the Communicator one last visit. At the temple entrance, the Renmei standing there didn't bother with any bells; he (or she?) just waved them in. They walked around the, by now familiar, path to the Communicator's pagoda. Only to find a stranger sitting there, dressed in the normal Renmei gardening overalls, with nothing covering his face. Sam instantly knew who this must be, but it was not until this man spoke that Kana and Hikari finally worked it out.

"Greetings, I am pleased to see you." said the Communicator.  
"Oh! It's the Communicator!" said Hikari.  
"Yes indeed. I am so pleased to greet you at such a time." said the Communicator.  
"Do you show your face to all the departing haibane?" asked Kana.  
"Not always. For example when Kuramori came before me just before her Day, I did not deem it appropriate, since after all she was in some distress and preoccupied with other matters. And, of course, Reki never had any time to visit me, nor would she have wanted to. Just as Midori and Hyouko did not choose to either. But that is all right, us Renmei want you to take your Day of Flight, anything else is optional. But Kuu and Nemu and Suna and Kage all visited and we had a chat, face to face."

They talked some more. Eventually Sam gave the Communicator his haibane stories write up.  
"If you can check this for whatever you want to check it for, then perhaps get some copies printed for each nest and maybe for the library." asked Sam.  
"Hmm, how much good do you think this will do for the other haibane?" asked the Communicator.  
"Realistically, I now believe not too much. Initially I had high hopes that a lot of the problems I experienced myself and which I heard about could be avoided with more knowledge, but now? I think that the setup here is intrinsically difficult. There is no way around to avoid the fact that the haibane are here to build up relationships with each other as part of their trails, but their companions will disappear at seemingly random times. The system is flawed but that is what it is." said Sam.  
"And also, I don't see why the humans can't have a source of reliable information about the haibane they can refer to if needed. Most won't bother, but the occasional human, say Hibana, could benefit from knowing a bit more than they do about us."

"I shall read this and I will have to consult with the Renmei. That is all I can promise at this point.", said the Communicator.

They waved goodbye and went back to Old Home.

At dusk on the last day, all of the visitors gathered on the hill overlooking the Western Woods. It was cold, so everyone was well rugged up. It wasn't snowing, so the skyline was visible.  
The factory haibane stood in one compact group, standing as close as possible to each other.  
The Stone Mill haibane stood in a row, almost but not quite standing at attention.  
The children sat on a thick waterproof rug, huddling up to each other, each one holding their gift from Sam. The house mother stood just behind them, keeping her eyes on them.  
The rest of the Old Home haibane stood in a row, holding hands. The twins in the middle and Yasaka and Rakka at the ends.  
The humans stood off to one side, clumping together in no particular order.  
Unbeknownst to the haibane as of yet, most of the humans in Guri were also watching. Sam had been a very high profile haibane, and seeing three light shows in one go was not something to be missed.

Sam and Hikari and Kana came out of Old Home. They bowed to the gathering and, without a word, turned and walked in single file and disappeared into the edge of the forest.

Once they got to the edge, Kana and Hikari just knew where to go. Sam, however, found himself in a different state. He was standing on the red ground, with a horizon line and blue sky above him. Kana and Hikari were beside him, but nothing else was visible.  
"Ah, ladies, all I can see is my horizon dream. It looks like I am going to have to ask you one last time for your help."  
"No problems sir!" said Kana, taking one hand.  
Laughter from Hikari, who took the other hand.

At last Sam was on his way. He had someone to guide him. This time the way was easy.

 _ **This time they were going to make it.**_

The crowd on the hill waited. The wind was just a gentle breeze; the moon was beginning to light up the hill side. The Western Woods was a darkened silhouette. At last:

A flash of light. A light beam climbed up into the sky, with small threads splitting off from it. It died out.  
Then another one climbed up.  
Then the last one gave its display.

The house mother led away her charges.  
The humans softly and quietly left.  
The haibane stood a long time in silence before they too slowly drifted away.

The hillside was left alone.


End file.
